Witch Week

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Title Witch Week

Cover from the current American edition.
Author	Diana Wynne Jones
Country	Great Britain
Language	English
Series	The Chrestomanci Series
Genre(s)	Children's, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Various
Released	1982
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-06-029879-0 (paperback)

Witch Week is part of the Chrestomanci series of fantasy novels by Diana Wynne Jones. It was named a School Library Journal Book of the Year. First published in the United Kingdom in 1982 and in the United States of America in 1988.

[edit] Plot summary

It is set in Larwood House, an underfunded boarding school for the children of executed witches, in an alternate present identical to ours in every way except for the presence of witchcraft, which is relatively commonplace, yet illegal and punishable by death, policed by a modern-day Inquistion. It follows the story of four adolescent students, who, after discovering they are witches, must come to terms with allegations of much-feared witchcraft within the school. One of the major themes in the story is overcoming prejudice. Like much of Wynne Jones' work, Witch Week encourages readers to think for themselves and seek to make a positive change in the world.

Larwood House recalls the equally dire Lowood School from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, although in Witch Week the miserable conditions of the school are often used for comic effect. It is interesting to note that, in almost every version of the book published, the class the story focuses on has a different name, according to the age group the publishers were aiming the book at at the time. The current UK edition calls the class 2Y (which suggests they are in the second year of secondary school and therefore around thirteen), and the current US edition calls it 6B (which implies the children are in the sixth grade and therefore about eleven).

Though often compared to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books, mainly due to the fact that both are in the children's fantasy genre and set in a boarding school, there are many distinct differences. For example, while in the Harry Potter series many of the pupils have a strong attachment to Hogwarts (the boarding school the series is set in) and enjoy their time there, both the students and teachers of Larwood House detest the school and their time spent there. One also gets the impression Larwood House is a poor school, due to the descriptions of drafty corridors, peeling wallpaper, horrible food, et cetera, most unlike the sumptuous setting of Harry Potter. Also, since witchcraft is illegal in the world Larwood House is located in, the students only dare do any magic in the utmost secrecy, a sharp contrast to the Hogwarts of Harry Potter, where magic is openly practiced and most of the lessons involve it. In the Harry Potter series, the main protagonists are good friends and help one another out of difficult situations, whereas the characters focused upon in Witch Week dislike each other immensely (until toward the end, at least) and, instead of assisting the other main characters out of trouble, are often content to let the suspicion rest on one of the other suspected witches, in order to divert it from themselves.

Books by Diana Wynne Jones

Chrestomanci series: The Lives of Christopher Chant • Conrad's Fate • Charmed Life • The Magicians of Caprona • The Pinhoe Egg • Mixed Magics • Witch Week Dalemark Quartet: Cart and Cwidder • Drowned Ammet • The Spellcoats • The Crown of Dalemark Castle series: Howl's Moving Castle • Castle in the Air Derkholm series: Dark Lord of Derkholm • Year of the Griffin Magids series: Deep Secret • The Merlin Conspiracy Other: Archer's Goon • Dogsbody • Eight Days of Luke • Fire and Hemlock • Hexwood • The Homeward Bounders • Power of Three • A Tale of Time City • The Time of the Ghost • More...