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Summary
Summary
There are good witches and bad witches, but the law says that all witches must be burned at the stake. So when an anonymous note warns, "Someone in this class is a witch," the students in 6B are nervous -- especially the boy who's just discovered that he can cast spells and the girl who was named after the most famous witch of all.Witch Week features the debonair enchanter Chrestomanci, who also appears in Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, and The Lives of Christopber Chant.Someone in the class is a witch. At least so the anonymous note says. Everyone is only too eager to prove it is someone else -- because in this society, witches are burned at the stake.
Author Notes
Diana Wynne Jones was born in London on August 16, 1934. In 1953, she began school at St. Anne's College Oxford and attended lectures by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. After graduation, she created plays for children that were performed at the London Arts Theatre. Her first book was published in 1973. She wrote over 40 books during her lifetime including Dark Lord of Derkholm, Earwig and the Witch, and the Chrestomanci series. She won numerous awards including the Guardian Award for Children's Books in 1977 for Charmed Life, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1984 for Archer's Goon, the Mythopeic Award in 1999, the Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999, and the Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Organization in 2007. Her book Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an animated film by director Hayao Miyazaki, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She died from lung cancer on March 26, 2011 at the age of 76.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Witch Week (Greenwillow, 1982) is the third book in Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci Chronicles series. An anonymous note to the teacher of class 6B announces, "Someone in this class is a witch." With those words the tale is off and flying. Set at Larwood House, a cliquish boarding school in England, the students in 6B are very nervous, since witches are hunted and burned. Plump Nan Pilgrim quickly becomes the chief suspect because, not only is her name the same as the Archwitch Dulcinea Wilkes, no one likes her anyway. But Charles Morgan is also a possibility due to his evil-eyed double-barreled glare. No one likes him, either. In this story that's all about the way people see each other and themselves, Nan and Charles, along with several others, discover that they are much more than they appear to be. Gerald Doyle's excellent narration infuses each person with a distinctive voice, from Nirupam's slight Indian accent to the clipped tones of Mr. Wentworth, making it easy to distinguish who is speaking despite the large cast of characters. Although part of a series, this title can stand alone. The boarding school setting and straightforward storytelling style is similar to that of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Fans of those titles should also enjoy this audiobook which would be a wonderful addition to school and public library collections.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this adroitly told story, Mr. Crossley finds a note claiming that ``someone in this class is a witch,'' only the beginning of events that have 6B and the rest of the school in turmoil. Ages 8-12. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
These four welcome reissues are loosely linked by the character Chrestomanci, a magician with nine lives, whose charge is to maintain the balance of magic among parallel universes. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This latest entry in Jones' Chrestomanci series posits the surfacing of young witches in the closed, confined world of a traditional (though co-ed) boarding school, in a time after witchcraft has been stamped out but inquisitors are still afoot. A witch's gifts commonly show themselves around age eleven, which is just what happens here--to the terror and discomfort of Charles, who holds his finger to the candle flame to remind himself that ""burning hurts""; the temporary joy of fat pariah Nan, who's delighted with her change in status; and the likely enjoyment of readers treated to the boarding-school intrigues and spellbound indiscretions. With the coming out of Nan and Charles, relationships shift, all hell breaks loose, more witches (one of them a teacher) reveal themselves, and when things get too hot the arch-enchanter Chrestomanci shows up, summoned by spell from a parallel world. This dapper gentleman settles in at the school, posing as divisional inquisitor and occasioning more shakeups, some of them quite unwelcome to the witches. There is also much exposition about the many parallel worlds of the series: The one in the story, where witchcraft is common but illegal, seems to be a redundant twin of another (ours?) . . . to which it is joined in the explosive classroom finale. And so the whole business is negated in a pouf of Guy Fawkes smoke--but it's larkish fun while the sparks fly. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.