Mildred Hubble, toil and trouble (The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy)

Member Name: nay_money

Product:	The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy
Date:	06/03/09 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good read for youngsters

Disadvantages: None

This is a children's book by Jill Murphy, aimed at those aged 5 and upwards. It was first published in 1974. The book is a paperback and has the price of 4.99 printed on it but is selling on Amazon at 4.49 brand new.

The Characters
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Mildred Hubble - She is the main character and therefore she is "The worst witch". Mildred is in her first year at the Academy for Witches. She is a forgetful and clumsy girl which causes her no end of trouble with her teacher's and fellow pupil's alike.

Maud Moonshine - She is also in her first year at the Academy. She seems to be an average student but because she is Mildred's best friend at the Academy, she is subsequently in trouble quite often too.

Ethel Hallow - She is top of the class among all the first years. She picks everything up so easily and is the teacher's pet because of this. Ethel and Mildred do not get along and Ethel gets Mildred into trouble.

Miss Cackle - She is the forgetful, but always happy go lucky Headmistress of the Academy. She often finds Mildred being sent to her office to be told off. She doesn't often get angry, just tells the students how disappointed she is, and hopes that they will do better.

Miss Hardbroom - Known mostly throughout the book as HB. She is the very strict Form mistress of these girls. She is often quite cross, mostly with Mildred.


The Story
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The story is about the going's on of a first year student, Mildred Hubble who is quite clumsy and finds herself in all sorts of trouble. The first years find themselves giving a display of their broomstick flying abilities at the annual Halloween celebrations, where other witches and wizards will also attend. HB is teaching the girls a routine they must do. The day before the celebrations, HB told Mildred she could not use her own broomstick as it had a bundle off tape holding it together from an accident earlier in the year. HB suggest Ethel loan Mildred her spare broomstick, but Ethel put a spell on it, causing Mildred to cause a huge accident and massive embarrassment to the entire school. Mildred decides to run away from school, but on her way she discovered a group of evil witches and wizards plotting to take over the Academy. Mildred put a spell on them and saved the school.


My Opinion
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My 7 year old daughter loves this book and has read it several times. The text is quite big and has some picture amongst it, to break it up. The story is good and is intriguing to a child. Also the fact that it is about a child makes it more appealing too. This is a good book to read with your child, as there are a few words that can be a little tricky, and may need explaining. I'd encourage this, my daughter is quite independent, but she also enjoys reading to other's.


The Facts
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The book is split into 10 chapters over 107 pages.

This is the first book in the series, other books include:
* 1. The Worst Witch (1974)
* 2. The Worst Witch Strikes Again (1980)
* 3. A Bad Spell for Worst Witch (1982)
* 4. The Worst Witch All At Sea (1993)
* 5. The Worst Witch Saves the Day (2005)
* 6. The Worst Witch to the Rescue (2007)


ISBN 978-0-14-131962-9
www.penguin.com


Thanks for reading.

Summary: We're going to start the next one tomorrow.