Book Review The Worst Witch. By Jill Murphy. The Worst Witch is a brilliant children’s book and television programme. The main character and young witch Mildred Hubble is always getting her spells wrong. She attends Miss Cackle’s academy for witches which is said to ‘look more like a prison than a school’. Mildred is in her first year at this school and she always unintentionally seems to be getting into trouble. The book quickly points out to us how clumsy Mildred is. ‘After only two days at the school she crashed her broomstick into the yard wall, breaking her broomstick in half and bending her hat’. A certain girl who Mildred does not get along with at the school is Ethel. Her character is very bossy and she is a ‘know it all’. On one occasion, Mildred turns Ethel into a pig after attempting to turn her into a frog. Mildred is then unable to reverse the spell and has to look it up in the library. This is one example of the way in which Mildred gets herself into trouble. She finds herself in Miss Cackle’s office every week because she has done something wrong. Ethel is always trying to get Mildred into trouble. Mildred’s class were asked to create a display for Halloween and had chosen to form a broomstick formation team. Mildred’s broom was broken and Miss Hardbroom insisted that Ethel borrowed Mildred her spare one. During the display, Mildred’s broom went out of control and knocked her off. This then led her to fall into all the other witches and they ended up on the floor. Ethel had cast a spell of Mildred’s broom causing it to behave this way. The pair are always ‘out to get’ each other. In the middle of the night, Mildred decides to leave the school. In doing this, she notices witches outside and overhears them planning to turn all the witches of the school into frogs as they sleep. Mildred knew that she had to do something about this and so turns all the witches into snails and thankfully, this is a spell that she does get right. She then takes the snails to Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom to tell them what she saw. Miss Cackle then realises that one of the witches is, in fact, her wicked sister Agatha. After doing this, Mildred is praised by everyone and is even given cheers in assembly. She has gone from being the one who everyone laughs at to being praised by everyone. The end of the story shows, that no matter how bad things are, they finally work out in the end. Mildred feels like she is constantly doing things wrong and wants to leave the school because she has had enough. However, after catching the witches who are planning to turn everyone into frogs, she is finally given praise and recognised for the good person that she is. This book has illustrations throughout which will engage children. It describes things in a lot of detail and Miss Hardbroom is described as ‘a tall, terrifying lady with a sharp, bony face and black hair scragged back into such a tight knot that her forehead looked quiet stretched’. She is seen to be more strict that Miss Cackle. The chapters are relatively short with big font. The author asks rhetorical questions such as ‘Do you remember I told you about a certain young witch names Ethel?’ This keeps the reader engaged because they feel more involved in the story. This book is aimed at Key Stage two children who are advanced readers.
The Worst Witch. By Jill Murphy.
The Worst Witch is a brilliant children’s book and television programme. The main character and young witch Mildred Hubble is always getting her spells wrong. She attends Miss Cackle’s academy for witches which is said to ‘look more like a prison than a school’. Mildred is in her first year at this school and she always unintentionally seems to be getting into trouble. The book quickly points out to us how clumsy Mildred is. ‘After only two days at the school she crashed her broomstick into the yard wall, breaking her broomstick in half and bending her hat’.
A certain girl who Mildred does not get along with at the school is Ethel. Her character is very bossy and she is a ‘know it all’. On one occasion, Mildred turns Ethel into a pig after attempting to turn her into a frog. Mildred is then unable to reverse the spell and has to look it up in the library. This is one example of the way in which Mildred gets herself into trouble. She finds herself in Miss Cackle’s office every week because she has done something wrong. Ethel is always trying to get Mildred into trouble. Mildred’s class were asked to create a display for Halloween and had chosen to form a broomstick formation team. Mildred’s broom was broken and Miss Hardbroom insisted that Ethel borrowed Mildred her spare one. During the display, Mildred’s broom went out of control and knocked her off. This then led her to fall into all the other witches and they ended up on the floor. Ethel had cast a spell of Mildred’s broom causing it to behave this way. The pair are always ‘out to get’ each other.
In the middle of the night, Mildred decides to leave the school. In doing this, she notices witches outside and overhears them planning to turn all the witches of the school into frogs as they sleep. Mildred knew that she had to do something about this and so turns all the witches into snails and thankfully, this is a spell that she does get right. She then takes the snails to Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom to tell them what she saw. Miss Cackle then realises that one of the witches is, in fact, her wicked sister Agatha. After doing this, Mildred is praised by everyone and is even given cheers in assembly. She has gone from being the one who everyone laughs at to being praised by everyone.
The end of the story shows, that no matter how bad things are, they finally work out in the end. Mildred feels like she is constantly doing things wrong and wants to leave the school because she has had enough. However, after catching the witches who are planning to turn everyone into frogs, she is finally given praise and recognised for the good person that she is.
This book has illustrations throughout which will engage children. It describes things in a lot of detail and Miss Hardbroom is described as ‘a tall, terrifying lady with a sharp, bony face and black hair scragged back into such a tight knot that her forehead looked quiet stretched’. She is seen to be more strict that Miss Cackle. The chapters are relatively short with big font. The author asks rhetorical questions such as ‘Do you remember I told you about a certain young witch names Ethel?’ This keeps the reader engaged because they feel more involved in the story. This book is aimed at Key Stage two children who are advanced readers.