Matilda - Roald Dahl

Published by Scholastic Inc.: New York, 1996.
First published 1988.

Matilda is a funny little story - as most of Roald Dahl's stories are. Matilda, the youngest child of Mr and Mrs Wormwood, is a very intelligent girl, a bookworm (with a special love of Charles Dickens - also a common trait in Roald Dahl books) in a family of television addicts and low-level criminals. 

Similar to the first chapters of The Twits, Matilda begins the story with a series of pranks, these ones designed to get revenge against her parents for their wrongdoing - an odd subject for a children's book really. Although Matilda is doing some fairly naughty things, we are never in doubt that her parents (especially her father) deserve what's coming to them. They also show Matilda's creativity and strong sense of justice, which will come into play later in the story.

Once Matilda begins attending school (as a five and a half year old), we are introduced to the sweet and gentle Miss Honey, as well as the terrifying 'giantess' of a Headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. Trunchbull makes the perfect villain for the story; she is menacing and imposing, willing to fling a child across the playground by their hair or lock them in a cupboard full of broken glass, and we know from the beginning that Matilda will inevitably face off against The Trunchbull eventually.

How she does is quite a surprise for someone who does not know the story in advance, with Matilda learning some skills later in the book to help her that are never hinted at earlier. Elise had not heard this story before, and told me that she had to re-evaluate where she thought the story was going to go from that point onwards.

As an introduction to Roald Dahl stories, Matilda works well. The cartoonishly evil villains, the Dickenesque names, and the twisted humour are all on display, along with the heart that his best stories show.

And Matilda is also a nice simple easy-to-read children's story; a good breather or 'palette-cleanser' to relax with on a hot summer's day.

Completed, with Elise, 29 January 2022.



(Elise Books)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Various Picture Books

Image
As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th
Read more

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Image
Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 2008. Book snobs, block your ears. *whispers* I think the movie was better. Okay, book snobs, you can unblock your ears now. *waves to get the attention of book snobs* To be honest, a huge reason why I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at this moment in time was that I thought it would be funny to have two books with ridiculously long titles appear back-to-back in my list. For anyone who thought that there were super-deep reasons why I picked the books that I did, I hope this helps you see the error of your ways. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I am refusing to shorten for the rest of this review) still tells the same story as that in the movie adaptation (also called  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), but does so in a less gripping (though still interesting) manner. This is for a few reasons: firstly,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book is e
Read more

In a Free State - VS Naipaul

Image
Published by Picador: London, UK, 2001. First published 1971. An odd book, containing three different narratives (along with separate prologue and epilogue narratives) all on the theme of feeling displaced in a different culture and environment.  The first main story is told from the perspective of Santosh, an Indian servant who moves to America, only to find himself questioning his life choices. The next story follows a West Indian man who travels to England to support his brother, only to become disillusioned and eventually murder someone.  The third main narrative - which is the longest and also the titular 'In a Free State' - follows follows two English expats - Bobby and Linda - as they road trip south through a progressively more war-torn African nation. On the way we learn a lot about each character - mostly through their conversations - and witness their interactions with each other and those around them. As with many of the  Booker books I have read, there is an occasi
Read more