image from Amazon
The book was written by the great Roald Dahl who wrote other classics such as Matilda, BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox. Unlike JK Rowling's Dumbledore, witches in Dahl's world are evil and cruel. They hate children and make it their lifelong mission to eradicate them. Too scary for a children's book if you ask me and that's why it was criticised when it came out.
The story is about an orphan boy who lives with his grandma who warned him that witches are real and disguise as real people to lure children. One day, the boy sees a gathering of witches in a hotel. They are planning to turn children into mice where they will be killed by their unsuspecting parents. He was discovered and turned into a mouse himself. What follows was his adventure to stop the witches from their evil plan.
The ending was bitter sweet since
!the boy can no longer be turned back to human. He with his grandma vowed to hunt other witches.
In my opinion, for a children's book the story is really dark and scary.
! [Hidden Spoiler Text] This is the spoiler content.
Optionally with more lines
The boy's fate at the end is tragic as he can no longer be turned back and a mouse's life is shorter than a human's. He can only comfort himself with his mission to hunt witches.
The author's choice to expose young readers to such cruelty that can happen to them made the book scary and controversial. I for one preferred the movie adaptation ending which had a more positive vibe.