This quote made me so sad. I love children, so seeing them be talked about like pests really stuck out to me. What they say about children and how they say it really portrays just how much witches hate children.

"They're talking about me, I thought. These females are actually talking about how to kill me."

This was funny to me, which is weird because at first I was sad to read about how much witches hate kids. My little brother tried reading this and it scared him too much to finish. I see why now! Especially knowing the main character is also a boy, that is just freaky.

"When mice grow up, they don't ever have to go to war and fight against other mice."

It is sad see the boy think so much about the cons of being a boy. Even if he is just trying to make himself feel better it is sad he has to think about war at all. I think children at this time must have so much to think about and dread as they grow up.

One question I thought of as I read was if the grandma can hear the mice so well because she is more open minded than most adults? That question led me to ask if this was a way to show how adults don't often take the time to listen to their children because of close mindedness.

1. “What's more, Bruno never stopped boasting about

how his father made more money than my father and that they owned three cars.”

2. "My grandmother will understand perfectly," I said."She knows all about witches."

3. "Of course I'll look after you," my grandmother murmured. "Who is the other one?"

   
   

   Questions:

   1. How do you know the boy’s feeling for Bruno change? How does he display this emotional maturity?

   2. Why do you believe that the grandmother extended such kindness towards Bruno?

1. What does Bruno’s Father do for work? Does Bruno get this behavior from his Father?

2. Do all witches range from 20-25 years old when they are disguised or can they be older?

1. “The witches were not bothering to chase me. They simply stood there in small groups, watching me and knowing for certain that there was no way I could escape. Several of them were holding their noses with gloved fingers and there were cries of, ‘Poo! What a stink! We can't stand this much longer!’” (Metamorphosis)

2. “You are probably wondering why I wasn't depressed at all. I found myself thinking, What's so wonderful about being a little boy anyway? Why is that necessarily any better than being a mouse? I know that mice get hunted and they sometimes get poisoned or caught in traps. But little boys sometimes get killed, too. Little boys can be run over by motor-cars or they can die of some awful illness. Little boys have to go to school. Mice don't. Mice don't have to pass exams. Mice don't have to worry about money. Mice, as far as I can see, have only two enemies, humans and cats. My grandmother is a human, but I know for certain that she will always love me whoever I am. And she never, thank goodness, keeps a cat. When mice grow up, they don't ever have to go to war and fight against other mice. Mice, I felt pretty certain, all like each other. People don't.” (Bruno)

3. “Mrs Jenkins looked up but went on knitting. ‘What's the little blighter been up to now?’ Mr Jenkins asked. ‘Raiding the kitchen, I suppose.’” (Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins Meet Bruno)

Questions:

1. Do you think that the witches turning the boys into mice specifically symbolizes anything? Out of all the animals, why mice especially with their creation of the mouse-maker?

2. Were you also alarmed by the Jenkins’ indifference to the grandmother telling them she has bad news about their son, Bruno?

"' You are still yourself in everything except your appearance. You've still got your own mind and your own brain and

your own voice and thank goodness for that.'"

I don't know why this quote stuck out to me; it was just one that grabbed my attention because it just seemed like a really genuine moment between the two characters and I think it's nice how it talks about appearances not mattering when you have so much else to fall back on.

"'Because I would never want to live longer than you," I said. "I couldn't stand being looked after by anybody else."'

This caught my eye because I have gone through a lot of loss within the past year or so and I just feel the bitter vibe in the air because it's an honest moment and a vulnerable one at that too. I also felt like punch to my gut when he asks her if she'll make it another couple of years so they can grow old and die together because it's something that everyone would want to do with loved ones. "'You've got to," I said. "Because by then I'll be a very old mouse and you'll be a very old grandmother

and soon after that we'll both die together."'

"'It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you."'

I just like this because it's like a sense of affirmation for him after turning into something different.

QUESTIONS:

Are the witches as ugly as described or is it just an exaggerated point of view from the main character who is just a young boy?

I may be overlooking into it, but I know it's been a pressing topic throughout the conversation of horror, and scary stories, where they make the older characters the scary ones, which in turn results in children being scared of their elders or elderly looking people, that being said, I wonder if Roald Dahl did this intentionally or by accident?

1. "Although I was very young, I was not prepared to believe everything my grandmother told me. And yet she spoke with such conviction, with such utter seriousness, and with never a smile on her face or a twinkle in her eye, that I found myself beginning to wonder" (pg. 15)

2. "You are still yourself in everything except your appearance. You've still got your own mind and your own brain and your own voice, and thank goodness for that" (pg. 125)

3. "'My darling,' she said at last, 'are you sure you don't mind being a mouse for the rest of your life?" 'I don't mind at all,' I said. 'It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you" (pg. 190)

Questions:

1. Where does the hatred that the witches have for children stem from? Is there more background information that Grandmamma didn't share?

2. What is the intention behind Dahl's delivery of the story through tone and emotions? Does this allow the story to appear more light hearted or frightening to children?

1. "And I heard one witch at the end of the front row saying aloud, 'All of them! We can't possibly wipe out all of them!'"

I thought this was interesting to read because the Grand High Witch wanted to wipe out all of the children in the country. The little boy in the book said that there was about 200 of them, so it was crazy to read that they were going to try to wipe out all the kids just because they don't like them.

2. "She had a peculiar way of speaking. There was some sort of foreign accent there, something harsh and guttural, and she seemed to have trouble pronouncing the letter w. As well as that, she did something funny with the letter r. She would roll it round and round her mouth like a piece of hot pork-crackling before spitting it out."

This caught my attention as well because of the dialogue from the witch. It was just different to read and understand/get into character of how she was talking.

3. "There are times when something is so frightful you become mesmerized by it and can't look away. I was like that now. I was transfixed. I was numbed. I was magnetized by the sheer horror of this woman's features"

This quote was an interesting one as well because it is true that you can't help yourself to look away from something that has your attention; you're caught in a trance, like a mix of fascination and terror of what you're looking at, especially for the little boy, he was scared by the witch's looks but at the same time fascinated that he couldn't look away.

Question:

1. Why did they have to lock and chain up the door of the hall they were meeting in?

2. Was Bruno told beforehand that there would be chocolate in the meeting room so that's why he went there banging on the door?

how his father made more money than my father and that they owned three cars. But worse than that,

yesterday morning I had found him kneeling on the flagstones of the hotel terrace with a magnifying-glass

in his hand. There was a column of ants marching across one of the flagstones and Bruno Jenkins was

focusing the sun through his magnifying-glass and roasting the ants one by one. "I like watching them

burn," he said. "That's horrible!" I cried. "Stop doing it!"

2.I found myself thinking,What's so wonderful about being a little boy anyway? Why is that necessarily any better than being a mouse? I know that mice get hunted and they sometimes get poisoned or caught in traps. But little

boys sometimes get killed, too. Little boys can be run over by motor-cars or they can die of some

awful illness. Little boys have to go to school. Mice don't. Mice don't have to pass exams. Mice

don't have to worry about money. Mice, as far as I can see, have only two enemies, humans and

cats. My grandmother is a human, but I know for certain that she will always love me whoever I

am. And she never, thank goodness, keeps a cat. When mice grow up, they don't ever have to go

to war and fight against other mice. Mice, I felt pretty certain,all like each other. People don't”.

3."I know what they've done, Grandmamma, and I know what I am, but the funny thing is that I don't

honestly feel especially bad about it. I don't even feel angry. In fact, I feel rather good. I know I'm not a

boy any longer and I never will be again, but I'll be quite all right as long as there's always you to look

after me." I was not just trying to console her. I was being absolutely honest about the way I felt. You

may think it odd that I wasn't weeping myself. Itwas odd. I simply can't explain it”.

Questions:

1.Why is it that Bruno felt was ok to brag about the material things his father had?

2.Was there other reasons the little boy felt it would be better to stay a mouse?

1. "She collapsed into her chaired. 'Oh, my darling,' she murmured and now the tears really streaming down her cheeks. 'Oh, my poor sweet darling. What have they done to you?" (Hello, Grandmamma). I found this interesting because the Grandmama recognized her grandson as a mice and actually believe him. And this makes me wonder if something similar had happened to her in the earlier chapters where she mentioned she met a witch, but the Grandmama didn't say what exactly happened to her to her grandson. I wonder if there's a connection between the grandmama and the witches.

2. "A vitch who dares to say I'm wrrrong Vill not be vith us very long!" (Frizzled Like a Fritter). Throughout this whole chapter, the Grand High Witch did look scary and I can understand why all the witches are all afraid of her and listens to her. If they don't, they will be burned alive and turn into ash. This really shows that the Master doesn't care if she needs to get rid of, she doesn't like to be wrong, and nothing can't oppose her.

3. "She was wearing a wig! She was also wearing gloves!" (The Meeting). Once I read this line I was already thinking that all those women in the room were witches. I was scared for the little boy because if they catch him, they will kill him or get rid of him. Throughout this chapter I was hoping the boy wouldn't get caught until that one tall witched smelled him and I was shocked she was able to smell him, I really thought he was going to be okay in his human self.

   Questions:

   1. While Mr. Jerkins was flapping his newspaper at Bruno why didn't Bruno say anything?

   2. I wonder if Bruno would have spoken, would his parents believe him?

      
      

1. "There is no way you can train mice inside a cage. Yet I dared not let them out because the chambermaid was spying on me all the time. She had a, key to my door and she kept bursting in at all hours, trying to catch me with the mice out of the cage. She told me that the first mouse to break the rules would be drowned in a bucket of water by the hall-porter."

   • Why was the chambermaid easily given access to enter a little boy's room? Does this correlate with the "less sensitive"/strict social norms from back then?

2. "These mice are qvite obviously belonging to some rrreepellent little child in the hotel! A boy it vill be for a certainty because girls are not keeping pet mice!"

3. "The extraordinary thing about the mask was that its lips moved quite naturally when she spoke. You really couldn't see it was a mask at all."

   • Could the mask be a symbol of "blending" into society while secretly faking one's true intentions/character?

   
   

I find this quote interesting primarily because of the choices made on how Dahl shows the accent that the grand high witch has. Its very fun seeing him play around with that and almost had me reading it out loud in a big exaggerated fashion.

2. “I looked around and I saw a hideous painted and powdered witch's face staring down at me, and the face opened its mouth and yelled triumphantly, 'It's here! It's behind the screen! Come and get it!’”

I like the slight horror aspect to this moment in the story. I wonder if Dahl had wanted to push more of a slight horror centric idea when coming up with the witches given that it leans into both this, comedy and whimsy?

3. “This time I was inside an iron suit, and somebody was turning a screw. With each turn of the screw, the iron suit became smaller and smaller, so I was squeezed like an orange into a pulpy mess with the juice running out of my sides”

This section also leans into the horror centric sides of this story as well. This is completely terrifying. It's pretty clear that Dahl wanted to scare children but I do wonder what his exact goal was at this point in the story.

madam," Mr Jenkins said. "I'm quite comfortable here, thank you very much." He was a large coarse

man and he wasn't used to being pushed around by anybody.

I can start to understand why Bruno had such an entitled attitude, based on his parents reaction to grandmama speaking to them.

Help!" screamed Mrs Jerkins. Her face had gone the colour of the underside of a fish.

What an intresting analogy I had never heard this be said by another person maybe its an England thing.

"Then you'll just have to creep into the kitchen and find a good hiding-place and wait... and listen. Just lie

there in some dark cranny listening and listening to what the cooks are saying... and then, with a bit of

luck, somebody's going to give you a clue. Whenever they have a very big party to cook for, the food is

always prepared separately."

Grandmama is putting a lot of trust on her grandson to arryout the mission of poisoning the witches.

Can everyone hear the talking mice or is it only their family that can understand them?

Are Brunos parents normally attentive towards Bruno?

“The Grand High Witch had a special way of making herself look perfectly ordinary, so that children could not recognize her.”

Why do the witches stay hidden and try to blend in rather then just letting it be known that they are powerful.

“She made the witches practice their spells until they could do them perfectly without anyone noticing.”

Does the grand high witches actions such as being stubborn have a negative effect on the other witches?

“The witches always hated children. They wanted to get rid of every single one of them.”

Is this because they themselves couldn’t have any children?