2B Tuesday #57

Where I highlight a book from my endless to-be-read list. Those books need love too!

Matilda by Roald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Release Date: June 1st 1998
Publisher: Puffin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Mrs. ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defense of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable. Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The reader cares about Matilda because in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.

 

Roald Dahl is one of my all-time favorite children’s writers. I believe that The BFG is one of the only school required books that I really read, more than once. I love the illustrations in his books. I love the movie for Matilda and I’m not sure if it is true to the book so I really need to read this!

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?