The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. The series are primarily boarding school and fantasy stories, with eight books already published. The first one, "The Worst Witch", was published in 1974 by Allison & Busby, and the most recent one, "First Prize for the Worst Witch", was published in 2018 by Puffin Books, the current publisher of all the series. The books have become some of the most successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 4 million copies.
The Worst Witch
In the first book of the series, it is revealed without explanation that Ethel and Mildred were enemies prior to the story. Ethel takes pleasure in taunting Mildred about her inability to train her cat into riding a broomstick, and Mildred responds by turning her into a pig. From then on Mildred and Ethel resent each other, and Ethel vows to get Mildred expelled. So far she has been unsuccessful. In the first five books she appears to have no friends, although her young sister, Sybil, makes an appearance in "A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch". A friend of Ethel's, Drusilla, makes a brief appearance in "The Worst Witch All at Sea" and later plays a bigger part in "The Worst Witch to the Rescue", where she hides Mildred's tortoise up a tree. Ethel is Mildred's arch-enemy.