The Worst Witch (Colour Gift Edition)

Sep 20, 2024 3:29 PM

Author:Jill Murphy

Hang on to your broomstick for a gorgeous colour paperback edition of The Worst Witch!

Written and illustrated by Jill Murphy when she was only sixteen, disaster-prone Mildred Hubble - the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy - has been casting her spell for over forty years, enchanting millions of young readers.

For this special edition, Jill Murphy has reproduced her original illustrations entirely in gorgeous full colour, and has written a special letter to her readers.

Mildred Hubble is a trainee at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, but she's making an awful mess of it. She keeps getting her spells wrong and crashing her broomstick. And when she turns Ethel, the teacher's pet into her worst enemy, chaos ensues...

'Millions of young readers have fallen under the spell of Jill Murphy's Worst Witch' - Sunday Express

Jill Murphy was born in London in 1949. From a very early age she was drawing and writing stories, and was already putting books together (literally, with a stapler) by the time she was six. She went on to study at Chelsea, Croydon and Camberwell Schools of Art. Jill worked in a children's home for four years and as a nanny for a year, before becoming a freelance writer and illustrator. The Worst Witch stories, of which this is the first, are some of Puffin's most successful titles.

Reviews

Millions of young readers have fallen under the spell of Jill Murphy's Worst Witch

—— Sunday Express

Witty and original

—— Books for Keeps

Unputdownable . . . Murray has an extraordinary imagination

—— Alex O'Connell , The Times

Energetic and inventive . . . and with some startling surprises, this is also touching about friendship, siblings, loss and courage

—— Nicolette Jones , The Sunday Times

Struan Murray . . . effortlessly joins the ranks of the most skilled world-creators . . . Unpredictable, filled with plot twists and shades of moral grey, Orphans of the Tide is both gripping and original.

—— Kitty Empire , The Observer

A beautifully written fantasy adventure with prose that is both muscular and musical, and outstanding world building.

—— Sarah Webb , Irish Independent

Orphans of the Tide is singularly brilliant. So inventive, and weird, and beautiful, with just the right amount of bite and darkness. I predict big things!

—— Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars and The Mercies

I loved it! Dark and thrilling. Great characters to root for. Perilous plot. Extraordinary, vivid world building . . . brilliant!

—— Eloise Williams, Children's Laureate Wales

The most original opening I've read in years and a plot twist that turns brilliantly

—— Abi Elphinstone, author of Sky Song

This is a terrific debut of strange myths and dark secrets, fierce loyalties and ruthless villains, told against the thrilling backdrop of a half submerged city.

—— The Bookseller – Editor's Choice

Compellingly inventive and unpredictable, kept me guessing right till the end.

—— Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild

Absolutely cracking! Great characters, with quite the nastiest villain I've met in a long while.

—— Fleur Hitchcock, author of The Boy Who Flew

Outstanding and immersive . . . I devoured this in one go

—— book blogger Lily SugarPlum Faery

An imaginative journey to a stunning fantasy world, full of twists and heart . . . an absolute corker . . . filled with swashbuckling adventure . . . an enthralling fantasy that moves through dark and grisly scenes of grave peril to positively touching moments of profound friendship. An incredibly imaginative narrative that fills its reader with wonder and thrills while also not being afraid to share quieter moments of real heart.

—— The Daily Express

There is a touch of Phillip Pullman about the world that Murray creates, and Murray matches Pullman lyrical prose [...] The comparison, however, should not take away from Murray's originality [...] the characters themselves, led by the plucky Ellie, anchor Orphans of the Tide in an urgent, human reality.

—— Irish Times

The energetic steampunk vibe overlies a thoughtful fable about compassion and justice

—— New Statesman

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