The Witches is a book for children by Roald Dahl first published in London in 1983 by Jonathan Cape.

The book's witches are a well-connected organization with one goal: the elimination of as many children as possible, ideally all of them; children smell unpleasant to them, which is the only real motive given. Tired of the witches' habit of concocting elaborate schemes resulting in the removal of perhaps one child at a time, the Grand High Witch comes up with a new plan: to infiltrate England's confectionery retailers and giving away chocolate made with a magic potion that will turn the children into mice exactly at 9 o'clock in the following morning, when they are at school. The teachers, she hopes, will panic and kill the mice.

Unfortunately for her, an old witch expert and her grandson, the protagonist (who is unnamed in the book, but named Luke in the movie) are staying at the hotel where the congregation of witches at which she makes the announcement takes place (cleverly disguised as a "Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children" convention). By chance, Luke also happens to be hiding in the convention hall at the time, and having received a thorough education about witches from his grandmother he quickly realizes what is going on.

The Grand High Witch turns a fat child named Bruno Jenkins (lured there by the promise of chocolate) into a mouse as a demonstration of the method; and the witches soon sense Luke's presence (to them, children have an inherent unpleasant smell) - resulting in another mouse with a human mind.

Luke manages to reach his grandmother's room safely (bringing Bruno along because he'd most likely get himself killed on his own), and they turn the witches' potion against them by adding it to the soup reserved for the kind ladies from the RSPCC. The hotel staff panics, as the Grand High Witch predicted, and rid England of most of its witches. Luke and his grandmother then come up with a plan to attack the Scandanavian headquarters of the witches.

A film 'The Witches ' based on the book was made in 1990, starring Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, Mai Zetterling as the grandmother and Jasen Fisher as Luke. An epilogue was added in which Luke was restored to human form.

(Internet Movie Database entry)

ISBN numbers

• ISBN 0374384576 (hardcover, 1983)
• ISBN 0224021656 (hardcover, 1983)
• ISBN 0374384584 (hardcover, 1983)
• ISBN 0435122932 (hardcover, 1985)
• ISBN 0140340203 (paperback, 1989)
• ISBN 0140317309 (paperback, 1989)
• ISBN 0606005404 (hardcover, 1989)
• ISBN 0141301104 (paperback, 1998)
• ISBN 0141311398 (paperback, 2001)
• ISBN 0754061914 (paperback, 2002)
• ISBN 0808574914 (library binding, 2002)
• ISBN 0224064703 (paperback, 2002)