Matilda

Matilda
By: Roald Dahl, Illustrated By: Quentin Blake
Penguin Group
October 1988
Ages: 9-11

Summary

In this book, a young girl named Matilda is absolutely ignored by her worthless parents. Through being ignored, Matilda discovers that she is extremely intelligent for her age and that she has special telekenetic powers. Throughout the book Matilda uses her powers to get revenge on her idiotic mother and father, the evil Miss Agatha Truncbull (the headmistress at her school), but she also uses them for good, to help her teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, get her fortune back from her Wicked Aunt. Some of the things Matilda does is dye her father's hair platinum blonde, glue his hat to his head, convince her parents their house is haunted (by trading something of her her's for the neighbor boy's parrot and sticking him up the chinmney.) And scare the living daylights out of Miss Trunchbull while she is teaching.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

I think any child that thinks they are worth nothing, should read this book. It's a classic tale of a hero/heroine rising from humble circumstances to make themselves heard; to make themselves great. It's deliciously funny and captivating and does a bang-up job of moving developing the characters and moving the story.

What problems do you see this book causing?

My only concern is that after reading this book, young children might think it's okay to seek revenge on their enemies, to use their resources to be mean to people. This might be an innapropriate theme for some younger readers.

What was your reaction?

This was my favorite book when i was younger. The copy that I have now is so worn down with the covers bent, cornered, torn and in general dissarray because I read it so much. It's definitely worth reading. I love the characters and the uniqueness of the storyline.