The kids love this story. They have watched the show over and over and love the book. They both gave the book 5 stars, which might not be fair, but they love it. They can practically recite the lines of the book. Still, it's the first time to read it for all of us. Animated film based on the wonderful children's picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. If the animals knew that the witch could not make room on her broom for them, do you think they still would have helped her? We just loved the story, the frog with his pond, the cat, the dog and a bird - overload the broom to the inevitable snap point - but the witch is too generous to worry about details like that, and anyway she simply magics up a new broom at the end of the story, a new de-luxe version. There's a dragon, who is scared away by the joint, although unplanned creation of a monster, covered in mud.

A witch and her cat fly around on a broom and the witch accidentally drops some of her things. Other animals on the ground return her items to her and ask for a ride on the broom. The witch says yes to them all, but is there room for all of these new friends? My son loves this book and watching the film. He loves when I use different voices for the characters. He knows the story so well he is beginning to retell the story independently. We love reading books by Julia Donaldson. Why did the witch let the animals on her broom? Would you have made room on the broom for the animals? I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together.A poetic story of love, adventure and music that demands to be read aloud or possibly sung, depending on the power of the reader's purr. Look at the rhyming words in the book. Is there a pattern to the rhyming? Can you think of other words that rhyme?

Think about a time when you have worked with a team. Were you successful in what you wanted to accomplish?Peter Fogarty has kindly contributed a set of Thinking Hat resources linked to the book (see Resources below). Look at the use of punctuation within the story. Can you explain why each type of punctuation has been used? Look at the expressions of each of the characters in the illustrations. Can you describe how they are feeling? Could you draw your own pictures which show different people’s emotions? Noisy books aside, this is the best. He likes to point at the witch and the cat and the dog and the bird and the frog. He likes to mimic the dramatic, booming, Brian Blessed-esque voice I used for the ' down came the broom' line, around which each verse hinges.

Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.Look at the different types of landscapes the witch flies over.Can you find similar landscapes near your local area using a map or an atlas? At the end of the story, the animals unite to save the witch from the mean dragon. Why did they do this and what made them successful? What does it mean to work on a team? What makes a good team? Questions for Philosophical Discussion Friendship

From former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and longtime collaborator Axel Scheffler comes this much-loved tale about a witch and her gang of friends. I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. I think this is possibly the best kids book I've ever read. It rhymes, so there is a real flow - and my young follower, who was 6 easily supplied all the end words at the right points, which I thought was quite funny, because being a boy, he couldn't read, but he had more or less remembered every word of this book.The unlikely group of a cat, dog, bird and frog form a great alliance as the continue to help the witch and continue their travels together. We're a family of witch fans and this book is so much fun to read and very exciting for my little boy. Great opportunity to do silly voices for all the different characters and the rhymes are fab. Love this book! Fantastic book defo mummys favourite! We love the rhyming in and my little girl (10 months) loves it if you put on different accents for the different characters and do the sound effects too. The story really flows making it easy to remember so you can really get into it and act it out. My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list.