You can tell from the title that you're bound to run into some trouble with this one. Aside from responding to the occult-sensitive parents who'll have concerns about the subject matter, you've got to help your students deal with a story that's admittedly pretty darn dark. The darkest spot of all, in our opinion, is not comprised of the macabre deeds of fantastical witches, but of our hero's tragic loss. And if any of your students have actually lost a parent, it's going to be especially important to talk to the class about this setup.

We would address it as a craft technique. Dahl glosses over that horrible opening because this isn't a book about coping with tragedy. The accident is simply a way to get his protagonist on his own, because it's harder to become a hero with parents constantly jumping in to save the day. From Grimm to Disney, kids have to stand on their own to find out what they're made of. This is a book about good overcoming evil, and for the sake of the story, the good boy must face the worst evil all on his own.