The Witches, by Roald Dahl

I read, "The Witches" today. I give it two thumbs up. Fine holiday fun for the whole family.

"The Witches" is the story of a boy's encounter with a group of witches at the annual witch's convention held in the Hotel Magnificent in Bournemouth. Luckily for the boy, he had been living with his Grandmother in Norway, where the witch problem/blight is much worse and so he has been taught how to recognise a witch.

They are completely bald, and have to wear wigs to fit in. The wigs are very itchy so they are always scrating their heads.
Their fingernails are more like large cat's claws, and so they must always wear gloves to avoid detction.
They have no toes on their feet, but since they must wear fashionable shoes to appear like normal ladies, thier feet always hurt.
They can smell children from across the street even in the pitch black of night. To a witch, a child smells like dog droppings.

Through the course of the book, the boy becomes trapped while hiding in the convention room and so overhears the witches' plot to kill every child in Great Britian! He must stop them before it is too late. Just as the convention is wrapping up one of the witches catches a whiff of dog poop and the boy's hiding place is discovered!

If you want to find out how it ends, you'll just have to read the book or rent the video.

-Gary Milner