Read:  November 2020

Author:  Roald Dahl

Published:  1983

Genre:  Children’s Book / Fantasy

Length:  224 pages (paperback)

Selected By:  BillMo

BillMo’s Score:

This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches.

Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth. There’s nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them. Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma’s stories – but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!

BillMo’s Review

I love Ronald Dahl’s book The Witches!  I read this when I was young and found it fun and a teensy bit creepy.  I remember seeing the movie [1990] and it was just wow!  Angelica Houston was great.  It’s funny how much they changed from the book to the movie when the book was so short.  I feel that what Warner Brothers did to The Witches what Disney did to Grimm’s fairytales.

I like that the witches have some fun quirks that they have to hide from the public like their blue spit and the fact they don’t have toes.  I love how he writes the accent of the grand high witch.

I also enjoyed the pictures that are throughout the book.  That’s right I read a paperback this time!

I find the ending of the book preferable to the movie even though it’s somewhat sad yet happy.

I love Ronald Dahl books and will continue to go back and enjoy them.

BillMo’s Favorite Character(s):  The grandmother – she was wild!  A believer in witches, a cigar smoker, and feisty as hell.

BillMo read the Puffin Illustrated Edition version of this selection.