reading (The Witches)

I finished reading "The Witches" this afternoon after work. I think this is the scariest Dahl's kid books I've read to date. Dahl can mix scary with funny and deliver it all in language that will delight and stretch a child's vocabulary. I pity the adult who has a child to read to and doesn't delight in saying, "Bish them, sqvish them, bash them, mash them!" The scariest parts are infused with the most playful rhymes, a reminder that this is fun and fantasy even when it's horror.

When I got to the end of this book I was puzzled by the beginning, the two do not seem to fit together. I suppose if you twist your head around a bit you can see how the things the narrator says in the beginning could work out with the situation at the end, but it's definitely a plot speed bump.

39. Roald Dahl "The Witches"