The Worst Witch Strikes Again

Product Information

The Worst Witch was first published in 1974 by Allison & Busby, and proved to be an immediate success, selling out within two months. [9] [10] Plot The author Jill Murphy began writing The Worst Witch at the age of 15, while still at school, and based many points of the stories on her own school experiences at Ursuline Convent in Wimbledon, England, with Singing becoming Chanting, Chemistry becoming Potions and so on. [5] Recalling how the story was initially inspired by her own school experiences, [6] she said in an interview: "My two friends and I used to come home in our dark uniforms, looking very scruffy at the end of the day – my dark plaits sprouting tufts, with lost hair ribbons. My Mum used to say 'Look at you all. You look like the three witches!' and it gave me the idea for a witch's school – so that it was exactly like my school, but with a subtle touch of magic. All the characters are based on my school friends (and enemies) and teachers." [7]

UPDATE October 2021: My eight-year-old and I enjoyed this as part of our witchy novels reads leading up to Halloween. Since first reading it over a decade ago, I've read many more early chapter books of the sort and my appreciation for this one has grown. I found myself enjoying the characters much more this time around and felt the plot and pacing were spot-on for this age group. I've bumped it up to four stars and definitely recommend it for children not quite ready for Harry Potter, yet who would enjoy a book featuring young witches and a magical boarding school. D: Got it. Under the bus for Rowling. - Hey, one last thing. My favorite part was when the cat got turned into a monkey. Just thought you should know that. The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (Scholastic UK, ISBN 978-0-141351995; another(?), ISBN 978-0-141383996) was released by Scholastic UK on 3 October 2013. [11]The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star by Jill Murphy: For ages 7 to 9". Scholastic Shop. Scholastic UK, 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Ethel later offers to help Mildred again in her hair predicament. She formulates a potion that she claims will restore Mildred's hair to its rightful length. Mildred applies the potion that night, and just when she is dropping off to sleep, her hair starts growing longer and longer by the minute, engulfing the whole school. Miss Hardbroom comes to investigate, states that Mildred is having "a bad hair day", manages to stop the hair growing and cuts it to its rightful length and vapourises the swathes of hair that had engulfed the whole school. When it was no longer realistic that Mildred would still be at school, the series relocated her to a magical university in Cambridge and was retitled Weirdsister College: The Further Adventures of the Worst Witch and saw the return of Felicity Jones as a reinvented Ethel Hallow. I'm bringing in El to ask her if I should add anything. Once again, it's super-fun that she's reading to me now, as much as I've read (and am reading) to her. For the creation of new girl Mildred Hubble and the way she did not fit in, and particularly for the strict structure of the school and the disagreeable character of the teacher Miss Hardbroom, Jill drew directly on her own experiences at the Ursuline Convent school, in Wimbledon, south-west London, where she was sent when she was 11. It was an academic school where, as Jill described it, she was “unpigeonholeable”.

a b Carey, Joanna (September 2002). "Authorgraph No.136: Jill Murphy | Jill Murphy interviewed by Joanna Carey" (PDF). Books For Keeps. No.136. pp.8–9 . Retrieved 20 August 2021. Sadly, the awesomeness that makes the movie was missing in the book. Don't get me wrong, the book was fine, but there's no terror tag; no Donna with a broom phone; no Aggie and Delilah getting bumped into the lintel at the beginning complete with a penny whistle sound effect (in fact, there's no Delilah at all, technically); no hysterics from the laughing potion; no "Good morning Miss Hardbroom, LOVELY morning" from Charlotte Rae; no ketchup scene (which is admittedly really stupid... just like everything else in the movie, but it's awesomely stupid, I tell ya!) And most importantly, the Grand Wizard is an old man, and not the dreamboat played by Tim Curry that sets all the girls' quims a-quiver in the film.a b c Vincent, Alice (31 October 2014). "An oral history of The Worst Witch....The Worst Witch was only published because of a party". The Telegraph. Steinberg, Brian (31 August 2016). "Netflix Sets Tween Series 'Worst Witch,' 'Horse Mystery Project' For 2017". Variety . Retrieved 9 July 2018. Mildred is an outcast from the start. She is presumably a Muggle born, having earned a scholarship through a creative writing essay rather than going there because of her heritage. As such, she did not have the magic centered upbringing her peers had. Though she makes up for this through her creativity and tenacity. In words and pictures, Jill’s stories have an easy and natural appeal to children. She liked children and all the warmth and mess of family life. Her stories about the Bear family and the family of elephants with the unsubtle surname Large, which they wear with pride, reflect that.

Jill Murphy: Biography". Images of Delight: Original artwork from children's book illustrators. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 . Retrieved 17 April 2008. Born in London, Jill grew up in Chessington, which was then in Surrey, the daughter of Reeney (Irene) and Eric Murphy. Her father, who worked in an aircraft factory, had a talent for drawing that he shared with Jill, regularly slipping illustrated notes into her school lunchbox. Her mother, previously a librarian in the Harrods lending library, had wanted to be a writer and did much to encourage Jill. When asked where her stories came from, she always said that she did not need to search for stories: everything she wrote about came from within her. That was truest in The Worst Witch, which she wrote while still at school and finished while still in her teens. Pamela Todd, Jill’s agent and friend, summed her up as “a natural, unstoppable storyteller with a formidable memory and eye for the kind of small, telling detail which made whatever she was recounting ring with recognition and zing with humour.” Mildred unravels her pigtails to try out Maud's styling brush. Maud and Enid find her with her hair loose, and a chunk of her hair tangled up with the brush in a huge mess. Ethel comes in and volunteers to help. However, the "help" amounts to taking a pair of scissors and chopping off both the styling brush and the messy hair.

Jill Murphy started putting books together (literally with a stapler), when she was six. The Worst Witch was first published in 1974 and this much-loved classic has been enjoyed by readers for more than 30 years. Jill Murphy also written and illustrated several award-winning picture books for younger children.