Diary of a Wicked Witch Upper KS2 Story Resource Pack

Bring a wickedly funny twist on traditional fairy tales into your Upper KS2 classroom with this free Diary of a Wicked Witch resource pack, created as part of the Ready, Set, Read! reading-for-pleasure campaign.
Written by Ben Miller and illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, Diary of a Wicked Witch takes readers back into the Fairytale Woods – this time through the diary of Wendoline, the Wicked Witch.
First published by Simon & Schuster in 2025, the story gives familiar fairy-tale characters and conventions a fresh and humorous spin.

After being arrested for her treatment of Rapunzel, Wendoline finds herself facing something potentially even worse than prison: Wickedness Management.
What follows is a funny, illustrated diary filled with magic, mischief and some rather reluctant attempts at reform.

Wendoline might insist she hasn’t really done anything wrong, but her own diary doesn’t always support her version of events – making the story particularly rich for exploring viewpoint, inference, character development and unreliable narration.
Created for Upper KS2, the accompanying resources move beyond straightforward comprehension and encourage pupils to question what Wendoline tells them, compare her claims with the events she records, explore changing relationships and consider bigger ideas around justice, freedom, consequences, trust and second chances.

The pack includes:

• UKS2 Curriculum Ideas Map – a bank of teaching opportunities across English, Maths, Science, Computing, PSHE, Spoken Language, Art, Design and D&T.
• Diary of a Wicked Witch Activity Booklet – including a book review, themed wordsearch, Halloween Parade drawing activity, a diary-writing task from Rapunzel’s point of view and a detailed character study of Wendoline.
• Book Corner Pack – resources to keep the book visible and discussion flowing throughout the class read, including a reading display, recommended next reads, general book-club questions and Diary of a Wicked Witch-specific discussion prompts.
• Ready, Set, Read! supporting content – with additional author and illustrator insight from Reading Rocks and discussion opportunities from Picture News.

The diary format provides particularly strong opportunities for deeper reading.
Pupils can examine Wendoline’s distinctive first-person voice, explore how humour is created through hyperbole, capitalisation, rhetorical questions and asides, and consider how diary dates, fragments, illustrations and page design influence pace and tone.
They can also compare what Wendoline claims with what her own actions reveal – an accessible introduction to analysing the reliability of a narrator.

Writing opportunities extend naturally from the text too.
Children might create a missing diary entry from another character’s viewpoint, report events for The Fairytale Woods Gazette, debate whether witches should have a Mischievous Day, write a formal Wickedness Management proposal or create a field guide to Fairytale Woods witches.

There are plenty of possibilities beyond English. Pupils could calculate intervals between events in Wendoline’s diary, map the witches’ Halloween flight route using scale and coordinates, investigate mixtures and reversible and irreversible changes, explore the forces involved in broom flight, create a branching digital story or stage Wendoline’s trial using evidence from the text.
The story also creates valuable opportunities for PSHE discussion around thoughts, feelings and actions, respectful boundaries, trust, accountability, apologies and second chances – encouraging pupils to think more deeply about Wendoline’s behaviour and whether genuine change is possible.

Ideal for a whole-class read, guided reading, book club, reading-for-pleasure project or cross-curricular English unit, this free Upper KS2 pack provides everything teachers need to explore the humour and mischief of Diary of a Wicked Witch while developing thoughtful reading, purposeful writing and plenty of lively classroom discussion.
Part of Ready, Set, Read!, a free collection created collaboratively by Teacher’s Pet, Reading Rocks and Picture News to help schools start the new school year with books, conversation and a genuine love of reading at the heart of the classroom.

More Related Resources:

Halloween Match Initial Sound Cards

£0.00

Communication, Language and Literacy

Halloween Doubles Worksheets

£0.00

Counting

Room on The Broom Rhyming Snap Cards and Matching Activity

£0.00

Classic

Jack’s Happy Halloween – Original Story Year 1 Reading Comprehension

£0.00

Comprehension

Room on The Broom Identifying Rhyming Words Activity

£0.00

Classic

Funnybones Skeleton Free Door Poster

£0.00

Communication, Language and Literacy

Jekyll vs Hyde: The Potion of Doom Upper KS2 Story Resource Pack

£0.00

Book Resources

Halloween Threading Tuff Tray Pack

£0.00

Early Years

Pumpkin Patch Weigh-In Game

£0.00

Events, Festivals and Celebrations