The Witches KS3 Quiz (With Answers)

Q1 of 30

How does the boy's grandmother know so much about witches?

• She was once a witch-hunter in her youth
• She met one as a child and has been studying them ever since
• She read about them in ancient Norwegian books
• She is secretly a white witch herself

Q2 of 30

What physical signs can betray a witch who is in disguise?

• Bald heads under wigs, square feet in shoes, clawed hands in gloves and large nose holes
• They cannot smile naturally and always wear gloves outdoors
• They have ice-cold hands and cannot blink normally
• They leave no footprints in snow or sand

Q3 of 30

What does the Grand High Witch plan to do to all children in England?

• Turn them all into mice using Formula 86 put in sweets
• Make them disappear using a spell on televisions
• Send them to sleep for one hundred years
• Capture them and take them to her mountain headquarters

Q4 of 30

How does the boy end up in the room where the witches are holding their meeting?

• He hides in the ballroom to practise training his mice and gets trapped when the witches arrive
• He climbs in through a window while playing
• He is following a witch he spotted in the hotel garden
• He is carried in by a witch who catches him spying

Q5 of 30

What does the Grand High Witch do to a witch who dares to question her plan?

• She removes her magical powers as punishment
• She locks her in a cupboard for the rest of the conference
• She burns her alive in front of the other witches
• She turns her into a mouse in front of everyone

Q6 of 30

How is Formula 86 designed to work?

• It only works if the child eats a full bar of chocolate
• It is delayed
• It turns the child into a mouse gradually over several days
• It turns the child into a mouse immediately

Q7 of 30

What is the first thing the boy notices about himself after being turned into a mouse?

• His senses are much sharper
• He can run incredibly fast
• He feels no fear at all
• He can understand what other animals are saying

Q8 of 30

How does the boy manage to pour the Formula 86 into the witches' soup?

• As a mouse he runs through the kitchen unnoticed and empties the bottle into the soup pot
• He tricks the head chef into adding it accidentally
• He uses a toy pump hidden in the dining room
• He climbs down the curtains and into the kitchen

Q9 of 30

What surprisingly good news does the boy receive about being a mouse?

• His grandmother will use white magic to cure him
• Mice live exactly as long as humans so he will have a full and happy life
• The grandmother's friend can reverse the transformation
• He will change back when he turns sixteen

Q10 of 30

How does the story end for the remaining witches around the world?

• They all die when the Grand High Witch is defeated
• A good witch who helped before transforms the boy back and she travels the world finishing off the rest
• The grandmother writes a book exposing all their methods
• They are hunted down and destroyed by the army

Q11 of 30

Why does the grandmother say the boy is actually lucky to be a mouse?

• Because he will die at the same time as her
• Because his senses are now much stronger than any human's
• Because he is now protected from all further witch magic
• Because mice can go anywhere without being noticed

Q12 of 30

How does Dahl make the witches feel genuinely threatening rather than just silly?

• By setting the story in the real world with real places and no magic solution
• By showing that no one has ever defeated a witch before
• By making them kill adults as well as children
• Through the grandmother's detailed, matter-of-fact descriptions of what they do to children

Q13 of 30

What does the boy's calm acceptance of being a mouse tell us about him?

• That he has given up hope of ever being cured
• That he has always felt more like a mouse than a human
• That he is too young to understand what has happened to him
• That he is brave and loves his grandmother enough to focus on being together rather than what he has lost

Q14 of 30

Why is it important that the story is set partly in a grand hotel?

• It shows that witches can hide in perfectly ordinary, respectable places
• It explains how so many witches from all over England could meet in one place
• It allows the witches to use the kitchens and food supplies
• It gives the boy a chance to explore lots of interesting rooms

Q15 of 30

What does the grandmother's Norwegian background add to the story?

• It establishes her as a genuine authority
• It means she has books from Norway that explain how to defeat witches
• It allows her to speak to witches in their own language
• It creates mystery because Norway is a dark and distant place

Q16 of 30

The witches in the novel specifically hate children. What might Dahl be suggesting about certain types of adults through this extreme characterisation?

• All adults are secretly witches
• Witches are fantasy figures, and
• Dahl uses witches as a metaphor for adults who genuinely resent or harm children
• Some adults dislike children, and

Q17 of 30

The narrator accepts remaining a mouse with relative peace. What does this suggest about identity, acceptance and what truly constitutes 'a good life'?

• He had no choice, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• A good life is defined by love, purpose and connection
• He is just resigned
• Children are not bothered by such things

Q18 of 30

How does Grandma function as a model of female strength in the novel? How does her characterisation subvert stereotypes of elderly women?

• She represents the past, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• She is just a nice old lady
• Grandma is wise, brave, knowledgeable and strategically astute
• She is a typical grandmother

Q19 of 30

Why might Dahl have chosen to make witches look completely ordinary? What is the thematic effect of this choice?

• He wanted to avoid clichés, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• It was easier to write
• The ordinariness of witches makes the real danger invisible
• Witches are always ordinary

Q20 of 30

The novel is prefaced with a warning that witches are real. Why does Dahl blur the line between fantasy and reality, and what effect does this create?

• It was a joke
• Dahl believed in witches, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• It is purely for fun
• This blurring creates genuine unease

Q21 of 30

How does the transformation into a mouse function as a metaphor for how children can feel in an adult world?

• The mouse is a plot device, and
• Children already feel small, powerless and overlooked
• Mice are funny animals, and
• Children don't feel powerless

Q22 of 30

The Grand High Witch is both terrifying and absurdly comic. How does Dahl balance these tones, and why is this combination particularly effective for a children's novel?

• Comedy undermines the horror
• The balance doesn't work
• Combining terror and comedy allows children to process fear through laughter
• The Grand High Witch is funny, and

Q23 of 30

Dahl was Norwegian and set the early chapters in Norway. How does the Norwegian setting and cultural tradition of witch folklore affect the story's atmosphere?

• The Nordic setting roots the story in a genuine folk tradition, giving the witches cultural authenticity and connecting the fantasy to real childhood fears across cultures
• The setting was random
• The setting is irrelevant
• Norway was convenient, and

Q24 of 30

How does Bruno Jenkins serve as a foil to the narrator? What does the contrast between them reveal about character and luck?

• They are very similar
• Bruno is less clever
• Bruno is greedy, thoughtless and quickly caught
• Bruno's parents are worse

Q25 of 30

In the novel, the Grandmamma smokes cigars and has a finger missing. How does Dahl use her unconventionality to suggest that unusual people are often wiser?

• Unconventional appearance marks Grandmamma as outside ordinary social constraints
• Old women often smoke
• She represents Norway, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• She is just eccentric

Q26 of 30

The witches want to use sweet shops and chocolate to poison children. Why might Dahl have chosen the specific vehicle of sweets as a danger?

• Sweets are tempting, and
• By using the most beloved children's treats as a weapon, Dahl makes the danger viscerally real
• It was a random choice
• Sweets cause tooth decay

Q27 of 30

What does the boy's decision to use Formula 86 on the witches rather than waiting for adult help suggest about the relationship between children and adults in Dahl's work?

• Dahl consistently shows children must be self-reliant
• The boy had no choice
• Adults are always better at solving problems
• Adults are all useless

Q28 of 30

Formula 86 is described with almost scientific precision. Why might Dahl have used this pseudo-scientific language?

• It was accurate
• Pseudo-science parodies the way official-sounding language creates false authority
• Dahl liked chemistry, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• It was educational

Q29 of 30

How does The Witches engage with the theme of trust? Which adults and children are trustworthy, and how do you know?

• Adults are always untrustworthy
• Trust is simple in the novel
• children can be trusted, and
• Trust must be earned through demonstrated care

Q30 of 30

The ending of the novel is bittersweet rather than conventionally happy. Why might Dahl have chosen this kind of ending, and what does it suggest about life?

• Dahl liked sad endings, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• It was a mistake
• A bittersweet ending is more truthful
• Children don't notice bittersweet endings