“I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.”

Roald Dahl

Am a little late with this blog and missed this amazing man’s birthday. We’ve had various family stuff on and holidays and a very teethy baby. 

However, I’m going to use Halloween month as an excuse to review his book “The Witches”. There are so many Roald Dahl books to choose from (I also now love his adult books such as  Kiss Kiss – a bizarre collection of short stories) but this was one of my favourite books growing up. I didn’t own a copy of it myself but borrowed it from the library almost every other week!

The Witches – by Roald Dahl

This is a pretty gruesome story about a boy who goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother who tells him stories about witches and the witch hunters (witchophiles). His grandmother is a retired witchophile and tells him the signs of how to spot them. This was always a source of amusement at our school as we had it read to us at storytime by a teacher (actually a very nice one) with slightly flared nostrils. We were convinced she was a witch!
These witches dress in ordinary clothes and look like normal people so are difficult to spot. The boy and his grandma go on holiday and end up staying in a hotel where there is a witches convention. The grandma and grandson need to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plot!!!!
Would say the book is appropriate from 7 years up. Definitely a good read!