Review: The Witches by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS:

This Roald Dahl classic tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven-year-old boy who has a run-in with some real-life witches! "In fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs. That is why they are so hard to catch." Witches, as our hero learns, hate children. With the help of a friend and his somewhat-magical grandmother, our hero tries to expose the witches before they dispose of him. Ages 7-12.

MY TAKE:
I've seen bits of the movie version of The Witches before, while channel-surfing but never actually watched it before because I didn't think it would be interesting.

In The Witches, a young boy learns about witches from his grandmother but is unsure at first if this is true. After an encounter with a witch, he starts believing in them immediately. While on holiday with his grandmother, they stumble upon a grand gathering of the witches in England who are cooking up a nasty plan.

After reading this book, I think I should definitely watch the movie version. I quite enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first if this was my cup of tea, but after the boy's encounter with the witches at the hotel, I was sold.

These witches are as horrible as you would expect, and I think they match what most children imagine witches to be like. As with most of Roald Dahl's stories, the things told in this story are absurd yet whimsical and are written in such a way that younger kids may think that there's truth in them or could be, anyway.

I liked the way the boy and his grandmother were able to defeat the witches, as well as their plans for the future. It's definitely an exciting ending and honestly, enterprising Hollywood producers could make a television series out of this book.

THE GOOD:

1. It's action-packed.
2. It's an entertaining story.
3. It gets better as the story progresses.  

THE BAD:

1. Some kids may be put off by all the mice. 

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

“It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.” 

READ IT IF:

1. You hate witches.
2. You like Roald Dahl's other books.
3. You like action-packed children's stories. 

RATING:


SOUNDS INTERESTING?