Rating: 
Summary: Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones ...
Review: A note that had written by someone warns "Someone in this class is a witch." A boy named Charles discovers that he could cast spells and he do cast spells on people. "Simon says" spell. Whatever Simon does became true. A girl named Nan Pilgrim who's ancestor is a famous witch of all Dulcinea Wilkes becomes a witch too. She discovers that she could ride brooms and suddenly describes things with magic. This book is an enthusiastic book with lots of astonishing characters such as Brian Wentworth, Charles Morgan, Nan Pilgrim (Dulcinea Pilgrim), Nirupam, Estelle etc. If you hadn't read this book yet, you should try this book!!
The book has a mysteries of witches and witchcraft all across the book. ...
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourite Jones books
Review: Although intended for a younger audience, the sheer power of this story, and the sinister alternate universe it creates has made it one of my all time favourites. It's one of those books in which you care so much about the characters that you want to know what happens to them after the novel is finished. What does Charles become, if not an enchanter? I hope the author writes another Chrestomanci story soon.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever
Review: Anything by Diana Wynne Jones is great, but this book is one of her best. For sheer creativity, she could beat the pants off of JK Rowling any day of the week.Her characterization is fantastic--some of the things that her characters think rang so true that I've been spoiled for all authors who don't know how to write individual children. Their journal entries are great. Her plot is also wonderful. In typical Jones fashion it's completely twisty. You'll never know what's coming next until you get to the end and suddenly everything just falls so beautifully into place. You'll be sorry that the book has to end at all. I re-read this book every year, and always find new details I missed. It gets better with every read.
Rating:
Summary: Witch Week and Witchcraft- Diana Wynne Jones
Review: At first I thought this book wasn't interesting, but after reading this I realized that this book was an enthusiasting book. Witch Week is about witches in the 6-B Class of Larwood School. One day when Mr. Crossley was checking some geography books a note fell onto his desk. " Someone in this class is a witch." The students in 6-B gets curious of who was a witch. A boy named Charles Morgan discovers that he was a witch and starts to cast spells and a girl called Nan Pilgrim whose ancestor was a famous witch named Dulcinea Wilkes rides on a broomstick and also casts spells. The story flows along with these witches casting spells, such as "Simon says..." whatever a character Simon says comes true........
Then afterall a rescueir comes to this world by Nan and Estelle. They casts a spell on a piece of paper and from that spell Chrestomanci comes and figures out this witch problem. The witches in the Nan's world are chased by inquisitors and burned.
Why don't you read this book and find out the amazing conflict by yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Predating -- and outdoing -- Harry Potter
Review: Diana Wynne Jones was writing "Potteresque" fantasy long before we ever heard of Harry Potter. "Witch Week" is one of her best and most accessible fantasies, with fully dimensional characters and an enjoyably complex plot.
Rating:
Summary: Before the advent of The Harry Potter there was...
Review: Diana Wynne Jones. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about dear old Harry, in fear of being deluged with hate mail. So, a disclaimer: I *liked* Harry Potter. Well, moderately. I don't think Harry Potter is a god or anything. After reading The Sorcerer's Stone, I thought "There has got to be more than this", and so I went out to find Diana Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series. Now I've read two of them: Charmed Life, and Witch Week. Both books surpass Harry in depth of character (etc.) and in quality of writing, but Witch Week is the better of the two. The plot is intriguing: in a world exactly like ours, except that they still burn people as witches, someone in a sixth-grade class is accused of being a witch. It sounds pretty serious for a children's book, but Diana Wynne Jones treats her subject with sensitivity and humor. (Some parts are actually hilariously funny.) By the end, all the questions you had are answered, and everything is resolved in an unexpected but satisfactory way that only Diana Wynne Jones could pull off. Overall, an excellent book. If you think Harry Potter is the center of the universe--excuse me (don't insult anyone), let's start over, If you liked the Harry Potter books, you must try Diana Wynne Jones. If you're really devoted to Harry Potter, you'll probably never allow another book to take its place. But keep an open mind, and try to see that there are more great books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Simon says-READ THIS BOOK!
Review: Every page of this enchanting third book of the Chrestomanci Quartet is captivating, and wonderfully humorous! Charles and Nan are two dull kids on a strage world where witches still around, and ilegal! If you're a witch, you are going to be burned at the stake! This is a comical book about the ways choices effect peoples lives, and how we can sometimes (if we're lucky) go back and fix them. The wackyness of riding a mop and a garden hoe to escape the privet school for troubled childern, and the whole dress up of the cross examining room (black material draped along the walls, a chair with a wired cap to go on someone's head, sharp objects, and containers that say do not open! Danger!) that Chrestomanci uses when he pretends to be a government official looking for a witch are charming. I reccomend this book to any HARRY POTTER fan, because Diana Wynne Jones has got a magical touch in her fingers.
Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter and Diana Wynne Jones
Review: First off this is an excellent book. Diana Wynne Jones has a knack for spinning humourous, engaging stories around sympathetic characters. In the Chrestomanci series, I would rate this as my second favourite, "The Lives of Christopher Chant" being my first. On the connection between the Harry Potter books and Diana Wynne Jones' books: the Harry Potter books are strongly influenced by Jones' books (the Chrestomanci series in particular). I don't remember any references to "Witch Week", but Harry Potter #3 refers to "The Lives of Christopher Chant" (Crookshanks = Throgmorten), "Dogsbody"(Sirius Black is named after Sirius Dogstar, a 'murderer'who takes the form of a dog in order to clear his name), etc. And I think Harry Potter is modeled a little on Christopher Chant, the boy magician with uncontrollable hair and horrible relatives. So if you're a Harry Potter fan, you should definitely check out this series, and the rest of Diana Wynne Jones'books, because there are probably a lot of connections I've missed.
Rating: 
Summary: Witch Week By: Diana Wynne Jones
Review: Funny fantasy and a twisted ending. Spells go wrong and things happen when you would least expect it. If you want a story like this, "Witch Week" is the one for you. The main characters are witches. If they are ever caught though, they will be burned at the stake. Nan, Charles, Bryan, and Nirupam at first seem like really weak characters and you think they won't ever amount to anything. Then when you least expect it they start turning into witches or enchanters. Enchanters are ten times more powerful than witches are. They start to realize how strong they really can be.
At first when you are reading the book, you feel like you are lost in a world never seen by man. The reason is that it just starts suddenly in what feels like the middle of a story. When you get to about the 2nd or 3rd chapter you know who the characters are, what rank of popularity they're at, and for some of them what they are like.
I thought this was a fantastic book except for the ending. Sometimes you wonder if Diana Wynne Jones is trying to be mysterious or just have a little good time.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun, but uncomfortably true
Review: I didn't like "Witch Week" the first time I read it - perhaps because I was the same age as the characters and found it too close to the bone? But I re-read it recently, and was really impressed with it as a good story that doesn't let anyone, child or adult, off the hook when it comes to being responsible for their own behaviour.
Larwood House is a English boarding school of the worst sort, full of bullies, horrible food, communal baths and unsympathetic teachers. It's also a school for witch orphans. Everyone is on the lookout for signs of developing magic in the students, so that the inquisitors can be called to interrogate the unfortunate child and burn them if they turn out to be a witch.
Trouble starts when a note is found by a teacher alleging that someone in 2Y is a witch. The teachers plot and scheme to uncover (or hide) the truth, and the students get abusive towards those they suspect, or would like to believe, is a witch. It's very effective picture of just how cruel and hierarchical teenagers can be towards each other. But that description makes the book sound exclusively unpleasant, and it's not. There are a number of hilarious situations as magic starts to run riot at Larwood House, and the characters, particularly Nan and Charles, are very appealing and very much true to life. Finally, when it seems that the situation is getting too hot for everyone, a number of the characters take desperate measures, which lead to the arrival of a certain enchanter and the revelation of an astonishing secret.
"Witch Week" is not a message book - it's a fun and exciting story with a strong moral streak, as is typical for Wynne Jones' books. Definitely worth reading.
|
