The Witches

September 1, 2020
Even being transformed into a mouse doesn't keep an 8-year-old orphan boy from turning the tables on a convention of child-hating witches in this graphic makeover of the classic novel from 1983. Generous use of wordless panels and close-up, exaggerated reaction shots lends both speedy pacing and cinematic flair to this version--though so deliciously terrifying is the Grand High Witch once she takes off her disguise that viewers may be compelled to linger over every hideous detail. The disgusting witchly potion concocted to turn all of Britain's children into mice, plus blood-splashed scenes of the unnamed young hero getting his tail chopped off and the Grand High Witch--herself transformed into a (fantastically feral-looking) mouse and smashed to smithereens--are showstoppers too. The plot remains unchanged overall except that Bruno Jenkins, the unsuspecting lad the witches use as their test subject, is switched for an unnamed and more competent girl and the protagonist's cigar-smoking, purple-haired Grandmamma has both her thumbs. But unlike the 1990 film, here our protagonist remains a mouse as he and his new mouse friend charge off at the end to serve just deserts to all the witches of the world. The boy and his elderly caregiver are brown-skinned, and the witches are ethnically diverse. A helter-skelter take on Dahl's gleefully gross rodentine ruckus. (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 30, 2020

GR 3-6-What a brash undertaking! To retell The Witches as a graphic novel and to replace Roald Dahl's familiar style-it would be unseemly if Bagieu didn't make it so utterly charged. The pacing is incredible as panel after panel and spot after spot of long views, close-ups, wide-angle perspectives, and facial zooms relay the story of a boy-turned-mouse who succeeds in ridding England of witches by putting a mouse-making serum into the soup they are served. This may lure an entirely new generation of readers into Dahl's books-at almost 300 pages, it's a sizable, satisfying tome. It's perfect fourth and fifth grade humor: grotesque humans, horrific witches in disguise as beautifully kitted-out women, with high heels and push-up bras, leering close takes of a chef's crotch as a mouse in his pants bulges, and another scene of the man in tidy whities, pants down. Is this in good taste? No. Is it funny? Yes. Let's leave controversy aside. Women fare badly, parents even worse, the message of the boy's acceptance of being a mouse with a lifespan that matches his caretaker dubious, and the chain-smoking grandmother (who has brown skin, as does her young charge) at the center of the tale won't win any awards as a healthy role model, but she is the most loving person present. VERDICT Warts and all, whether witches or Dahl, the book will be devoured by readers and shared widely among peers.-Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.