The Witches

This book contains one of the best opening chapters in literature. It's as simple as that. Absolutely brilliant. 10/10Superb

What a delightful and wickedly funny book! Ostensibly about scary witches that kill children, Roald Dahl has written a classic heartwarming story of the bond between a newly-orphaned boy, who is strangely never given a name (I didn’t even realise that until I pored through the book again to find his name) and his Grandmama, from Norway. The fact that neither the boy nor Grandmama is named makes the story even more magical on hindsight, because this could be a story about just any boy and his grandmother, giving it an Everyman feel to this tale.Grandmama’s country of origin is important because Grandmama has stories to tell about her girlhood experiences of witches growing up there, Norway being some sort of high witch grand central. The premise behind her stories is to distract him from his sadness of losing his parents. This is marvellously dealt with because Grandmama’s stories sound almost too fantastical to be true until they return to Bournemouth, England, to honour the boy’s father’s will. There, the boy finds out first hand that witches are real, and that they are just as Grandmama has described them, innocuously like any other woman on the street except for their gloves that hide their claws, bald heads under wigs, strange eyes, and toeless square feet hidden in pointy shoes. And they are all out to rid the world of pesky children, who smell like dog poo to them.I can see where David Walliams got his inspiration from in his equally engaging and endearing “Gangsta Granny”, but Dahl still wins hands-down for integrating all the elements of horror, the macabre and magical, together with the bravery of the boy and the love between him and Grandmama, the latter who never ever flinches or talks down to the boy the way you expect an adult to when speaking to her grandson, even when he is literally turned into a mouse by the wicked Grand High Witch.An altogether lovely story to savour, and I’m glad I found the time to read it for the first time in my mellow adulthood, and still be able to appreciate the magic of it.

Great book

Currently reading this to a group of adultscwith learning and physical disabilities, they are loving the different voices and characters

Great book.

The perfect bedtime read for kids who love horror.

This book has been read and reviews thousands of times but how can you not love Roald Dahls book? This is fantastic and I won't go into it because there are very few people who don't know the story already but if you don't get too it!!!The Paperback - It has seen many different covers and this one is just a good as any of the others, Quentin Blake still attracts children who seem to be able to reckoning his work anywhere. The print is of good side and well looks good on the shelf!The Audio Book - Have listened to many different versions over the years the most recent being Miranda Richardson but no one did this as well as Simon Callow. With his you just loose yourself in the story and his take on the Witches song 'Oh where have all the children gone' is hilarious! The only downside it's abridged where the newer Miranda Richardson version is unabridged but I would still pick Callow's version ever time.Kindle - The same as the paperback just quicker to download it if you children are demanding to read it as mine were. illustrations are just as great, a couple of typos but nothing the drastic. Maybe being an older book now it could be a little cheaper for the ebook but worth every penny none the less.

A classic, fun read for kids and “big kids” alike. Just as I remember from my youngest days. Perfect for the coming Halloween season.