Witch Week

Kliatt, Sept, 2005 by Mary Purucker

WITCH WEEK. Diana Wynne Jones. 1982/2005. Read by Gerard Doyle. 6 tapes. 8 hrs. Recorded Books. 1-4193-3289-9. $55.75. Vinyl; plot, reader notes. J

In a boarding school that houses many witch orphans, Mr. Crossley comes across a note amid the 6-B geography notebooks he's correcting, stating that someone in his class is a witch; he is perplexed. In this alternate universe, anyone who is a witch is burned to death. Can this note be true? It turns out to be more than true; indeed, there is more than one witch. As it happens, witches tend to come into their powers at the ages of the children in 6-B. Wild things begin to happen in a class with the usual assortment of popular in-group girls and boys, bullies, and misfits: all the shoes in the school fall into the school auditorium; a flock of assorted birds flies into a classroom.

Doyle's narration is exactly right for one of Wynne Jones's most popular books. His pacing and timing keep up the suspense; he manages all the voices of male and female, children and adults seamlessly. Those looking for books beyond Harry Potter will enjoy all of Wynne Jones's novels, Mary Purucker, Beverly Hills PL, Beverly Hills, CA

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.