Description

This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches. So begins one of Roald Dahls best books ever, and, ironically, it is such a great story because the premise is perfectly plausible from the outset. When the narrators parents die in a car crash on page two contrast this terribly real demise with that of Jamess parents who are devoured by an escaped rhinoceros in J This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches. So begins one of Roald Dahls best books ever, and, ironically, it is such a great story because the premise is perfectly plausible from the outset. When the narrators parents die in a car crash on page two contrast this terribly real demise with that of Jamess parents who are devoured by an escaped rhinoceros in James and the Giant Peach, he is taken in by his cigar-smoking Norwegian grandmother, who has learned a storytellers respect for witches and is wise to their ways. The bond between the boy and his grandmother becomes the centrepiece of the talea partnership of love and understanding that survives even the boys unfortunate transformation into a mouse. And once the two have teamed up to outwitch the witches, the boys declaration that hes glad hes a mouse because he will now live only as long as his grandmother is far more poignant than eerie. Of course, theres adventure here along with Dahls trademark cleverness and sense of the grotesque. Dahl also communicates some essential truths to children: if they smoke cigars, theyll never catch cold, and, most importantly, they should never bathe, because a clean child is far, far easier for a witch to smell than a dirty one. Ages 7 to 10, or read aloud to younger children Susan Harrison