Name: The Witches
ISBN: 9780141310848

Roald Dahl

David Wood

Fun-to-perform plays for the classroom. A collection of seven short playlets following the story of Roald Dahl's book in sequence. Some are for three or four actors and a couple are ideal for performance by a whole class. Full of humour, excitement and magic and true to the spirit of Dahl's work. Similar in format to The Twits and The BFG: Plays for Children. Adapted by David Wood, well-known in children's theatre (most recently for Goodnight Mister Tom).

Plays for Children

The Witches

Patrick Book

This is maybe my second favourite Dahl story. I didn't remember it being so very dark but even in its bleakness his spirit shines through. His morale may be slightly heavy-handed in how it's ultimately stated bald-faced but it is an important one nonetheless.

Hexen hexen

Laura Mauler

It's a great book, I've read it before in English. I just lost steam this time and got distracted with other stuff.

Meagan Fischer 

Five stars because it's a great kids book that I enjoyed as a kid.

Krystyna 

I loved Roald Dahl books as a kid. I decided to pick this one up again and re-read it. I listened to this via audiobook and really enjoyed it. It was very nostalgic. I remember as a kid this one really creeped me out. it was pretty fun to re-read it and remember this story scaring me as a kid; it made me laugh. This was a very enjoyable read and would definitely recommend it. The narration of the audio was enjoyable as well.

Michael Springer

I was a very sheltered child. 

Or was I a wuss? I was probably a wuss. 

For instance, when I was a little tot, Sammy Terry scared the shit out of me.  I remember being frightened by commercials of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and the one time I inadvertently saw part of a Friday the 13th movie on TV? Fogettaboutit. Nightmares for weeks. 

But that all came later. 

But this book. Oh, this was traumatic shit. 

I was in preschool, probably 4 years old, when the teacher decided to read us The Witches. Every day we'd sit on the carpet and listen to a little bit more, and . . . well, witches! Witches were frickin' scary at four, it didn't matter how cartoony they looked on the cover. I knew that real witches were scary looking and ugly. And *SPOILER ALERT* when that one kid got turned into a mouse, it scared me so bad I cried! I cried in front of the other kids, and they all thought I was a wuss! 

When I got home, I told my mom about crying in front of the class, and SHE WAS SOOOOO pissed. She called the teacher that night and expressed her displeasure with great verbosity and eloquence, probably traumatizing the teacher every bit as much as The Witches traumatized me. 

What happened the next day? We switched books. I can't remember the book that followed The Witches; it didn't scare me, whatever it was. Nobody found out what happened to the little kid who got turned into a mouse. For me, he will forever be a mouse. But at least we little chillens didn't have to hear about any more witches.

A happy ending? More of an ambiguous one. Just a couple weeks later, my parents withdrew me from the school after I, in passing, told mom that the teacher gave her two favorite students ice cream bars during lunch, but never gave anyone else one. 

(I wasn't a tattle tale, I promise. I was just very talkative. And a wuss.)

Nicole Sonja

This was an amazing book! I loved the silliness of it an the way that gets turned into something serious.

illya

Read this when I was in middle school and I loved it so much oh god.

Quentin Blake

Witches

Cassidy

3.5. The fact that this can still creep me out as an adult says something, though I'm not sure if it says something about the book or about me.

Roald Dahl's darkly funny masterpiece, The Witches, now available as a graphic novel from Eisner Award-winning artist Pénélope Bagieu! Witches are real, and they are very, very dangerous. They wear ordinary clothes and have ordinary jobs, living in ordinary towns all across the world -- and there's nothing they despise more than children. When an eight-year-old boy and his grandmother come face-to-face with the Grand High Witch herself, they may be the only ones who can stop the witches' latest plot to stamp out every last child in the country! This full-color graphic novel edition of Roald Dahl's The Witches, adapted and illustrated by Eisner Award winner Pénélope Bagieu, is the first-ever Dahl story to appear in this format. Graphic novel readers and Roald Dahl fans alike will relish this dynamic new take on a uniquely funny tale.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Loved reading this new Scholastic Graphix title via Edelweiss+ digital reading copy, pages flying, on Roald Dahl Day, 13 September 2020 no less! My son raced through it this morning and we can't wait to get our hands on a hard copy!

Utterly delightful interpretation of the Roald Dahl classic with vibrant, hilarious characterization in line, form, color - Bagieu has a marvelous comics style that is unique yet has echoes of Seuss and the original Quentin Blake drawings - and some new twists on the beloved story that has enthralled and horrified children for so many years. 

Every school librarian should order multiple copies, G3 and up. My teens are going to love it as well.

The witches

Nick Bicko

Mir gefällt die Grundidee, mir gefallen die Beschreibungen der Hexen, aber so richtig warm geworden bin ich damit leider nicht, obwohl ich die Geschichten Dahls in der Regel mag.

Laura Yaneth Martinez

It is a thrilling book that keeps you reading for more. This book is about a young boy having to live with his grandmother.His grandmother tells him stories about real witches.Later he actually meets hundreds of witches.

Las Brujas / The Witches (Alfaguara Infantil)

Emir Andrés Ibañez

“Da igual quién seas o qué aspecto tengas mientras que alguien te quiera.”

Si hubiera leído esto de niño me hubiera traumado a muchos niveles jajaja

Kirsty

Ok listen, in terms of a children's book in 2021 no, this doesn't hold up. There are numerous awful things said, particularly about bald women and just general messages I don't feel like children should be hearing today. That being said... 
I really enjoyed this! The audiobook for this was so good - there were sound effects, the narrator did really great voices for the different characters and the voice of the Grand High Witch genuinely freaked me out. I know that if I'd have read this one as a kid it would have scared the shit outta me.

Euodias

Kerry Gibbons

Love this book. Forgot how dark Roald Dahl is...

Roald Dahl Witches The

my_bookalicious

Jelke Lenaerts

I don't actually know if I read this as a kid or not. I always thought I read this but nothing about the story seemed familiar to me, so idk now ... Well, we're not here for a trip down memory lane but for a review of this book. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm sure if I were younger I would have loved this but now not that much. The thing I love most about Roald Dahl is that he's able to make you believe his stories are real. They are so grounded in reality and as a kid that's why I loved his books. For the rest I felt like this story didn't have that much going for it. I was a bit underwhelmed, I don't really know why. But yeah, I did still enjoy my time reading this book and I read it pretty quickly so I can't complain. Also, this book got me in a huge reading mood, which is great as I've been in a bit of a slump in the past couple of months.

adria

Surprisingly engaging. Well, maybe not quite so. I did, after all, have pretty high expectetions for this, being a Roald Dahl book. So perhaps it's safer and more accurate to say this book exceeded my expectations. With absolutely amazing character building and development, great plot and packed with action, this novel is now one of my favourite children's novels. Rad.

Jeni Enjaian

A review from my old blog...

I figured that this one would be a little strange... along the same lines as other of his books. Although I do like the fact that the young boy who finds himself transformed into a rat by "the witches" is content to stay in his current shape and looks for ways to utilize his new abilities... the rest of the book simply did not satisfy. As usual Dahl's writing style is captivating. I just wish that he had a more positive tone to his books.

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

Why weren't there any translations of Roald Dahl's books when I was a kid? I think I would have loved them.

Marit

Still as wonderful of a read as I remembered it to be.

aila kira 

2.5 ☆ It was ok..failed to set me in a halloween mood :/

Krystal Campbell 

Thank you so much to Scholastic for a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

To re live a story that I loved as a child in graphic novel form was going to go one of two ways, I was going to love it or I was going to hate it. It was the former. 

I really had a lot of fun with this and feel that it portrayed the original story quite nicely and in a modernised way. I do feel that the way the main witch was drawn may be a little to scary for children but I really loved the drawing of Grandma. 

The graphics in this from Penelope are so well done and you can see she had a lot of enjoyment putting it all together. 

If you are a fan of Dahl and want to experience an classic of his in a new way then I recommend this

Brianna Brown

I loved the movie adaptation of this as a kid, so I thought it would be fun to read the book now, as well as Dahl's other work. I had forgotten how creepy the story actually was! The witches is funny and I loved the boys conversations with grandmamma! It definitely brought on the nostalgia as well. I'm excited to start revisiting these stories from my childhood.

The Witches Plays for Children

Reviews

Highlights