The+Witches

**SUMMARY/REVIEW**
The narrator of this book is a little boy who recently lost both parents in a tragic accident and now lives with his grandmamma in England. Now that he is under his grandmamma's care, she decides to tell him some important information. She explains to him that witches are indeed real, and they are to be feared; for it is a witches goal to get rid of all little children. It takes a while for the boy to believe his grandmamma, but he is convinced when he runs into a real witch himself. Grandmamma explains that witches look like ordinary women when they wear their disguises, but there are some clues that can help someone identify a witch. First, they always wear gloves to cover up their claws instead of nails, they have no toes, but squeeze into tiny heels anyways. Witches also have no hair, you can tell they are wearing a wig when you see them itching at their scalp. When the boy and his grandmamma decide to take a vacation to a hotel on the beach, it is much to their surprise when the boy discovers the witches are holding their annual meeting in that same hotel. The boy accidentally ends up attending their meeting, and learns of their new plan to turn all the children into mice using the new Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker. During this meeting, he watches the witches turn another boy, Bruno, into a mouse as a demonstration, and is ultimately turned into a mouse himself. With the help of his grandmamma, the boy devises a plan to steal the potion and turn all the witches into mice. They pull off the plan, and thus kill all the witches living in England in one grand action.

Roald Dahl is a children's author who was born September 13, 1916 in South Wales. He is most famous for his book //Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.// Dahl was born to Norweigian parents, and spent many childhood summers with this grandparents in Oslo, Norway. He was a michevious child who always managed to find trouble. Because of this, he suffered many mishaps in his school days of "rules, rules, and still more rules that had to be obeyed." Dahl started his writing career when recovering from a severe head injury that resulted from a plane crash when he was part of the Royal Air Force during WWII. "Dahl's children's fiction is known for its sudden turns into the fantastic, its fast-moving pace, and its decidedly harsh treatment of any adults foolish enough to cause trouble for the young heroes and heroines."(3). Dahl died in Oxford, England on November 23, 1990.
 * AUTHOR BIO **

**OTHER CHILDREN'S LITERATURE**
__Children's Novels:__ //The Gremlins// (1943), //James and the Giant Peach// (1961), //Charlie and the Chocolate Factory// (1964), //The Magic Finger// (1966), //Fantastic Mr Fox// (1970), //Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator// (1972), //Danny, the Champion of the World// (1975), //The Enormous Crocodile// (1978), //The Twits// (1980), //George's Marvelous Medicine// (1981), //The BFG// (1982), //The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me// (1985), //Matilda// (1988), //Esio Trot// (1990), //The Minpins// (1991), //The Vicar of Nibbleswick// (1991). __Children's Poetry:__ //Revolting Rhymes// (1982), //Dirty Beasts// (1983), //Rhyme Stew// (1989) (1)

**AWARDS**
//The Witches// won the New York Times Outstanding Book Award in 1983. In 1983, //The Witches// also won the Federation of Children's Book Group Award, and the Whitbread Award. (2).

**HISTORICAL CONTEXT**
Roald Dahl's novels often have controversy because of the prominence of violence. //The Witches//, particularly suffered controversy from feminists in England, who claimed the book was sexist.

**MAJOR THEMES**
Good vs. evil, virtue is rewarded, being happy in your own skin, looks can be deceiving, imagination, family.

**CITATIONS**
1.) [] 2.) [] 3.) [|http://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Dahl-Roald.html#b]