Book Review: The Witches / Roald Dahl

 

A young boy loses both of his parents in an accident and ends up living with his grandmama (who he loves very much). One night she tells him about being a witch hunter and how she never was able to find the grand witch. She describes the attributes of witches (blue saliva, bald (wearing wigs), no toes, always wear gloves even in the summer. She tells the youngster that the witches' greatest job is to rid the world of children. 

One day when he and his Grandmama are on vacation and staying in a hotel, he finds himself locked into a room of witches. They are plotting to rid England of all of its children with a dastardly plan to turn them into mice. He is scared but can find no escape when suddenly a witch smells him (children smell like dog droppings to witches). He is captured and turned into a mouse, but the story has just begun as he and his grandmama hatch a plan to save the children. 

This was the perfect story to read on Halloween. Dahl's imagination is grand and he loves playing with words.