Fiction Addict

Genre: Children

Publisher: Puffin

Publication Date: 2007

Reviewed by Jaci Miller

Young Matilda Wormwood just doesn’t belong in her crude family—they’d rather be watching television and selling lemons at their used car lot. A gifted, extraordinary child, Matilda teaches herself to read and multiply while still a toddler. When she begins kindergarten, she finds a kindred soul in her teacher, Miss Honey, who embraces the child’s special gifts and offers the girl the affection she has never known. But the child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, is determined to make school a misery for Matilda and all the other children of Crunchem Hall Primary School. When a shocking truth surrounding The Trunchbull and Miss Honey comes to light, Matilda is determined to help her beloved teacher.

Although Matilda is a kindergartener, the vocabulary of the book is better suited to upper elementary ages. But Matilda is so mature that older children will be able to identify with her. The book is replete with justice themes that children will immediately recognize and appreciate. Matilda sees the injustices perpetrated by the adults around her and takes matters into her own hands with pranks, payback and use of magical powers.

In his classic style, Roald Dahl infuses Matilda with absurdity (a headmistress who whirls little girls by their pigtails), the fantastic (telekinetic powers that terrify said headmistress) and liberal doses of sheer kid power (every move Matilda makes)—a combination that has endeared his work to children for years.