book reviews matilda

By Roald Dahl

'Matilda' by Roald Dahl is one of the most popular children's books of all time. It tells the story of a highly intriguing 5-year-old protagonist capable of performing miraculous acts.

Article written by Neesha Thunga K

B.A. in English Literature, and M.A. in English Language and Literature.

The novel is the last long children’s book written by Roald Dahl. It features a sprightly young girl named Matilda Wormwood, who overcomes tremendous difficulties through her wit and grit. The character is a role model for young children, especially young girls who read the book.

The Female Protagonist 

Matilda is one of the few female protagonists in Roald Dahl’s stories. She is a witty and plucky 5-year-old girl who is left to fend for herself in various ways. Her self-centered parents are neglectful and, at times, abusive toward her, but such annoyances do not faze the young girl. Instead, she stands up for herself through her inner resources and, of course, practical jokes. learns from her family’s mistakes and grows up to be quite different from them. Matilda is a super-nerd. She can read at an extremely young age, and no book is too daunting for her. Matilda is also a staunch upholder of justice – taking matters into her own hands when the adults in her life are of no use. The fact that she has the magical ability to move objects with her mind is the frosting on the cake for this protagonist.

As a result, Matilda becomes a character that readers would look up to. Children who read the novel wish to be like Matilda in every way – which is something that Roald Dahl wanted to accomplish in his novel in the first place. Matilda inspires children with the fascination to read, to perform exceptionally in academics, and, of course, to be fair and just in all of their activities.

Matilda  as a Feminist Novel

Published in 1988, ‘ Matilda ‘ has been influenced by the political climate of the 1970s and the 1980s in several ways. The novel itself can be seen as a byproduct of the feminist movement of the 1970s. With an exceptional young girl who saves the day, the novel carries strong undertones of feminism. 

Several of the important characters are also female, with the antagonist being the former hammer-throwing champion, Agatha Trunchbull, and Matilda’s mentor being sweet Miss Honey. Both of these women demonstrate different ideas of feminism. While the diabolical Trunchbull is fiercely independent, confident, and intimidating (all qualities that are generally not depicted in women), Miss Honey shows strength, courage, and saintly patience despite having fallen into hard times. 

A Reflection of the Times

The story of ‘ Matilda ‘  is a reflection of the times that it was written in. The education system mirrors what is seen in English public schools around the late 1980s. This is why corporal punishment is banned in Matilda’s school as well – something which is lamented sorely by the big bully, Miss Trunchbull. 

People across the world were also embracing television in the 1980s, and television made a big appearance in ‘ Matilda ‘. It is used as a foil for books and shown as a thing of evil. 

Dynamic Characters 

Roald Dahl is known for writing memorable characters in all of his books . The characters in ‘ Matilda ‘ are no less. They are as varied and as dynamic as one could hope for in a children’s book, and each of them has vivid descriptions attached to them. This helps children create a concrete image of the characters in their minds. Further, the description of each character matches their personality in some form or another. For instance, while the gentle and kind Miss Honey possessed a pale oval face, the kid-hating terror of a headmistress had mean and arrogant eyes and an obstinate chin. 

Although ‘ Matilda ‘ is a children’s book with a simple plotline, the characters undergo development in the story. The protagonist, for instance, is a superhuman genius and a true pupil, learning about herself from beginning to end. She understands more about the world and the people around her, learning compassion and modesty along the way despite her hapless parents and a busty nightmare of a school Principal. 

Miss Honey is another character who transforms herself. With the help of Matilda’s remarkable power, Miss Honey gains back control of her life to such an extent that she is capable of bringing up Matilda all by herself when she is left on her doorstep by Matilda’s parents.

Playful Writing Style

The writing style of Matilda is playful and engaging. Roald Dahl has mentioned how writing for children can be challenging. This is because he believes it is easy for them to get bored. As a result, he introduces several plot points throughout the novel, including real feelings and emotional truth, to keep things moving at an intriguing pace. 

The story is narrated from the first-person point of view of an unnamed narrator. The narrator helps to add flavor to the story. This is because, unlike other novels, the narrator is not a silent observer. Instead, they side with Matilda very often and provide their own perspectives and innate predilection on situations.

Roald Dahl uses hyperbole in his novels to grab the attention of his young audience. As such, ‘ Matilda ‘ is littered with descriptions that are usually exaggerated.

The author has provided a satisfying conclusion to the novel. Not only is the biggest bully in Matilda’s life taken care of, but Matilda is also allowed to stay with her benevolent teacher, Miss Honey, for the rest of her life. She satisfies her thirst for knowledge by moving up to an advanced class and, as the cliché goes, lives happily ever after. This can be thought of as a didactic conclusion in a way because it teaches children that things will go right for them if they do the right thing, just like they did for Matilda.

Matilda Review: Roald Dahl's Magical Children's Novel

Book Title: Matilda

Book Description: 'Matilda,' penned by Roald Dahl and released in 1988, is a children's novel recounting the tale of a precocious 5-year-old named Matilda. Possessing both advanced intelligence and the extraordinary power to manipulate objects using her mind, Matilda's journey unfolds within the pages of this enchanting narrative.

Book Author: Roald Dahl

Book Edition: Puffin Books

Book Format: Paperback

Publisher - Organization: Puffin

Date published: March 26, 2023

Illustrator: Quentin Blake

ISBN: 978-0141346342

Number Of Pages: 256

• Writing Style
• Lasting Effect on Reader

Matilda Review

‘ Matilda ‘ is a children’s novel written by Roald Dahl and published in 1988. The novel follows the story of a young 5-year-old girl, Matilda, who has a mature intellect as well as magical abilities to move objects with her mind. Matilda encounters several bullies in her life, which include her parents and headmistress at school, whom she defeats through the clever use of her abilities.

• Clever use of language
• Useful for young readers to begin their literature journey
• The use of the first-person point of view helps children understand the story
• Intriguing plot
• The main character is too unrealistic
• Might be too violent for children
• Children might miss the slightly more adult themes in the novel

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About Neesha Thunga K

Neesha, born to a family of avid readers, has devoted several years to teaching English and writing for various organizations, making an impact on the literary community.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Kid genius gets revenge on mean adults in fun fantasy.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Children will learn some quick facts (titles, auth

Intelligence can matter more than brutal power, ev

Miss Trunchbull abuses Miss Honey and her students

Miss Trunchbull throws children out of windows, pi

There's a lot of name-calling directed from adults

Parents need to know that Roald Dahl's Matilda is about a brilliant, magical little girl who's miserable at home with her nasty, clueless parents and oppressed at school by her mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. However, Matilda finds a loving, kindred spirit in her teacher, Miss Honey, who values her pupil…

Educational Value

Children will learn some quick facts (titles, author names, and some plot summaries) of great books that Matilda reads, including Burnett's The Secret Garden and Dickens' Great Expectations . They'll also learn what times tables are, and how to spell a few words, such as "what" and "difficulty."

Positive Messages

Intelligence can matter more than brutal power, even when power is wielded by a large adult over a small child.

Positive Role Models

Miss Trunchbull abuses Miss Honey and her students, and Matilda's relationship with her parents is one of mutual dislike. However, Miss Honey is a wonderfully warm and encouraging teacher. She's also very brave in her way, and she has the adult perspective to express how adult cruelty affects children. Matilda is a special young hero, avenging adult crimes with her marvelous brainpower. Of course, this is all in the context of Roald Dahl's fantastical imagination, so the physical abuse is cartoonish, and little children can't really do magic, yet there is much to admire in the genius of Matilda Wormwood.

Violence & Scariness

Miss Trunchbull throws children out of windows, picks them up and swings them around by their hair or ears, and locks a child in a tiny room with spikes protruding from the walls. She also has pushed a young girl's head underwater as punishment. Though no one is really injured in this fantastical novel, some sensitive youngsters may be upset by the Trunchbull's cruelty.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

There's a lot of name-calling directed from adults to kids, or between adults, including "stupid," "glob of glue," "ignorant little twit," "gangster," "useless bunch of midgets," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Roald Dahl 's Matilda is about a brilliant, magical little girl who's miserable at home with her nasty, clueless parents and oppressed at school by her mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. However, Matilda finds a loving, kindred spirit in her teacher, Miss Honey, who values her pupil's amazing brain power. Miss Trunchbull inflicts mental cruelty and physical abuse on the students, including name-calling, tossing children out of windows, locking them in a closet lined with spiky nails, and spinning them around by their hair or ears. These exaggerated acts of malice are part of the fantasy, though, along with Matilda's magical mental tricks. This novel was made into a dark yet delightful 1996 movie , and it's available as an audiobook read beautifully by actress Kate Winslet .

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (19)
• Kids say (77)

Based on 19 parent reviews

Kids are smarter than reviewers are giving them credit for...

Let's read matilda little girl has powers, what's the story.

MATILDA is the story of a little girl genius. By age 4, the title character has read all the books in the children's section of her local library, and moved on to Dickens, Austen, and Hemingway. She can also do advanced math in her head and has a sophisticated understanding of the world. Unfortunately her crooked car-dealer father and bingo-holic mother, TV addicts both, don't appreciate her at all. In fact, they "looked upon Matilda ... as nothing more than a scab." Matilda spends most of her time reading and the rest thinking up clever ways to punish them for their atrocious behavior, such as putting superglue into her father's hat brim, and swapping his hair tonic for peroxide. Things change when Matilda starts school. Crunchem Hall Primary School is run by the horrific Miss Trunchbull, "a gigantic holy terror, a fierce tyrannical monster who frightened the life out of pupils and teachers alike." At the same time, Matilda is taken under the wing of her perfectly sweet teacher, Miss Honey, who needs the little girl as much as the student needs her. Getting back at the Trunchbull will be much more difficult, and dangerous, than punishing her parents, so Matilda's magnificent mind starts developing even more unbelievable talents!

Is It Any Good?

This classic book has been delighting kids and their parents since 1988, appealing both to readers' imaginations and to their sense of justice. The good in Matilda are all good, and the wicked get their comeuppance at the hands of giddy, delighted children. Precocious readers, like Matilda, will recognize in this novel's villainous characters some of the same qualities that define the bad children in what is probably author Roald Dahl's most famous work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Mean characters exhibit gluttony and greed, watch too much television, and cheat to get what they want. Good characters are lovable, smart, and triumphant. Matilda is a wonderful romp -- a great read-aloud for young children, and a mild challenge for middle graders to read themselves. Either way, it's tons of fun and immensely satisfying.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the idea of revenge in Matilda . Is it right for Matilda to play tricks on her parents and Miss Trunchbull?

Do you think any real person can do magical tricks like Matilda does?

If you had Matilda's powers to move things with your mind, how would you use them?

Book Details

• Author : Roald Dahl
• Illustrator : Quentin Blake
• Genre : Fantasy
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Penguin Group
• Publication date : May 8, 2005
• Number of pages : 240
• Last updated : June 10, 2015

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Matilda by Roald Dahl - review

The exceptional Matilda is about a smart, easily infuriated little girl who is misunderstood by her parents and loathed by the school's headmistress. On the other hand her kind and generous teacher, Miss Honey, thinks she is a brilliant academic genius. Matilda has a number of excellent schemes in her head to teach her nasty parents and headmistress a lesson.

Whilst Matilda is the novel's central character many readers will be drawn to the larger-than-life, extrovert, humourous and strangely likeable headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. Her unique reprimands to the children, with phrases such as 'blithering idiot' and 'stagnant cesspool' will leave you in stitches.

The novel is littered with excellent examples of Dahl's use of creative imagination to keep the reader's attention alive such as when Matilda uses her magical eyes to write a truthful message to the headmistress on the blackboard.

On a disappointing note for me, Quentin Blake's doodle-like illustrations failed to match Dahl's impressive and brilliant character descriptions.

Despite this Matilda is a fantastic and entertaining novel and I recommend it to children aged 7 – 12 and a must read for lovers of Roald Dahl . Four out of five stars!

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Review and Summary of Matilda by Roald Dahl

Introduction:.

“Matilda” is a classic children’s book written by Roald Dahl, one of the most celebrated and beloved children’s authors of all time. This review aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the book, its themes, and its literary devices, while also exploring its broader impact on readers. The suggested reading age for “Matilda” is 8 years and older.

Book Summary:

“Matilda” tells the story of a young girl named Matilda Wormwood, who is exceptionally intelligent and has a love for reading. Despite her extraordinary abilities, Matilda faces a challenging life, as her parents and the cruel headmistress of her school, Miss Trunchbull, fail to recognize her potential. The book follows Matilda’s journey as she uses her wit and newfound telekinetic powers to overcome adversity and protect her kind-hearted teacher, Miss Honey. Important themes in the book include the power of knowledge, courage, and justice.

The strengths of “Matilda” lie in its memorable characters, engaging plot, and the use of wit and humor throughout the story. Roald Dahl’s unique writing style keeps readers engaged, while his use of literary devices such as irony, imagery, and foreshadowing adds depth to the narrative. The book is also notable for its exploration of social issues such as child abuse and the importance of education.

One of the weaknesses of the book is its somewhat unrealistic portrayal of Matilda’s telekinetic powers, which may make it harder for some readers to fully relate to the protagonist. However, this element adds a magical touch to the story that can inspire imagination and creativity in young readers.

In relation to the author’s life, “Matilda” was published in 1988, towards the end of Dahl’s career. It is often considered one of his greatest works, as it showcases his ability to create compelling characters and narratives that resonate with readers of all ages.

Evaluation:

“Matilda” is a must-read for children and adults alike, as it offers valuable lessons on courage, resilience, and the importance of standing up for what is right. Fans of other Roald Dahl books, such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach,” will undoubtedly enjoy this heartwarming tale. In comparison to other works in the same genre, “Matilda” stands out due to its unique blend of humor, magic, and real-world issues.

Comprehension and Analysis Questions:

• While practicing her reading
• During a confrontation with Miss Trunchbull
• When she becomes angry at her father
• Miss Trunchbull
• Mrs. Phelps
• Mrs. Wormwood
• The power of knowledge
• The importance of friendship
• The consequences of greed
• The value of family

1. c, 2. a, 3. a

• Roald Dahl – Matilda
• Scholastic – Matilda by Roald Dahl

Awards and accolades:

“Matilda” has won numerous awards, including the Children’s Book Award in 1988. It has also become a best-selling book and has been adapted into a successful movie in 1996 and a popular Broadway musical in 2010.

Functional details about the book:

• ISBN: 978-0142410370
• Number of pages: 240
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• First publish date: October 1, 1988
• Adaptations: Movie (1996), Broadway musical (2010)
• Genre: Children’s fiction, fantasy
• BISAC Categories: Juvenile Fiction / Humorous Stories, Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic
• Suggested Reading Age: 8 years and older

Other Reviews:

• Common Sense Media – 5/5 stars
• Goodreads – 4.33/5 stars

Where to buy the book:

Purchase “Matilda” on Bookshop.org

Is this book part of a series?

No, “Matilda” is a standalone book.

About the author:

Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, and screenwriter, who is best known for his captivating children’s stories. Born in Wales in 1916, Dahl’s writing career began in the 1940s with works for adults. He gained widespread fame with his children’s books, which often feature dark humor, fantastical elements, and memorable characters. Some of his other best-selling books include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach,” and “The BFG.” Dahl has won numerous awards throughout his career and is often regarded as one of the greatest children’s authors of all time. He passed away in 1990.

Final Thoughts and Recommendation:

“Matilda” is a timeless story that will appeal to both children and adults due to its engaging characters, magical elements, and important messages about courage, resilience, and the power of knowledge. It is a must-read for fans of Roald Dahl and those who enjoy imaginative and heartwarming tales.

• Children's Book Reviews

Matilda by Roald Dahl – Book Review

Matilda is the world’s most famous bookworm, no thanks to her ghastly parents.

Her father thinks she’s a little scab. Her mother spends all afternoon playing bingo.

And her headmistress, Miss Trunchbull?

She’s the worst of all.

She’s a big bully, who thinks all her pupils are rotten and locks them in the dreaded Chokey.

Despite these beastly grownups trying to push her down, Matilda is an extraordinary girl with a magical mind.

And she’s had enough.

So all the terrible adults had better watch out, because she’s going to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!

As a child, I was a massive Roald Dahl fan and spent hours with my nose in his books. At school, we had to read his older children’s work on his life, Boy and Going Solo. However, over the years I have noticed that I never actually read a few of his work, namely Danny the Champion of the World, The Witches, and Matilda.

This wasn’t something I really thought about recently until I saw it on Sarah Cox’s book show as one of the guests ‘Bring Your Own Book’ and she made it sound so appealing that I ordered it right away and then read it in a day. Why, oh why, did I ever leave it so long.

The book is for any bookworms no matter your age, it is a book about a bookish child. A child who loves all the classics. It is also a book about nasty people and how through being very clever from reading this little five-and-a-half-year-old Matilda gets her revenge.

The book is truly amazing. It was a beautiful, fun, energetic read and I fell in love with the little girl and want to spare her from these brutes that call themselves adults, including her parents who dislike their own child.

The copy I bought was the 30th-anniversary copy, mainly as I love a hardback book and partly because I loved the cover and the colour – yes I am that easily pleased.

Within the book is artwork by Quentin Blake who illustrated I think all of Roald Dahl’s work. He has a way with his artwork that not only brings the story to life but makes you laugh and connect with the characters too.

Part of me is glad that I never this book as a child as I got to appreciate it as an adult and part of me thinks I missed out on such a fabulous book that would have made me constantly giggle and frown.

Overall, this is a book that still after all these years works in today’s society. It was great fun to read and this edition would make a wonderful gift too.

Book Reviewer – Stacey

Purchase online from:, amazon.co.uk – amazon.com – amazon.in – apple books – blackwells – bookshop.org – waterstones, about the author.

The son of Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated at Repton. He was a fighter pilot for the RAF during World War Two, and it was while writing about his experiences during this time that he started his career as an author.

His fabulously popular children’s books are read by children all over the world. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.

He died in November 1990.

What did you think of Matilda? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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I read this back when I was a kid. Great book.

Such a good book! I love the movie too.

I watched the movie, never read the book.

I love this curious child and this author – I love your thoughtful review

definitely one of my fav authors and books!!

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by Roald Dahl illustrated by Quentin Blake ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1988

After some autobiographical excursions, Dahl here returns to the sort of whimsically grotesque fantasy that makes grown-ups wince and children beg for more. His heroine is five-year-old Matilda, a genius whose mathematical abilities, as well as her impressive reading list (Hemingway, Steinbeck, etc.), are totally unappreciated by her father—a dishonest used-car salesman—and her mother, a devotee of bingo and TV soaps. Only when the girl enters school does she find an understanding ally, Miss Honey, a paragon of virtue who attempts to defend her pupils against unbelievably cruel headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who hates children in direct proportion to their youth and tortures them accordingly. Just when things seem to be at their worst, Matilda discovers still another gift, telekinesis, enabling her to defeat the horrible Trunchbull and give Miss Honey, and herself, a new start. Dahl's tightly woven plots, his strict sense of absolute justice, and his raunchy "funny bits" make him popular with children who also appreciate the empowerment he grants to his smaller, weaker protagonists. Matilda is the most simplistic of his efforts in this direction, but it does retain the time-honored appeal, abetted by Blake's apt illustrations. It probably should be marked "For Children Only," though. And Dahl slips badly when he says that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien have no "funny bits" in their books.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1988

ISBN: 0142410373

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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by Alice Harman ; illustrated by Quentin Blake

developed by Roald Dahl ; illustrated by Quentin Blake

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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013

Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.

Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.

Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and  her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).

Pub Date: May 14, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

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A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.

Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.

The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.

Pub Date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019

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Friday 19 March 2010

Review: matilda.

The Literary Edit

Review: Matilda – Roald Dahl

When I first decided to work my way through the BBC’s Big Read , I wanted to do a thorough job – thus no half-hearted attempts or unfinished books are permitted. I’m sure that at some point during my childhood I read Matilda, but in the name of being thorough, when placing my most recent order on Amazon, I included Matilda in the line-up.

Without wanting to sound horribly tacky, the first thing that struck me about this book was the similarities between myself and Matilda. I may not have had the ghastly parents, but I did have a love of reading instilled in me from a very young age, much like the protagonist in this novel. Growing up in a small town in Sussex, I remember walking to my local library every Saturday aged seven and stocking up on books for the week; I can still recall the glee I felt when I was told that the borrowing limit had been extended from three books to seven. And while I certainly wasn’t reading Dickens, books absolutely played a big part in my childhood and have continued to do so throughout my adult life.

London’s Evening Standard has recently launched a literacy campaign hoping to ‘get London reading’ on the back of recently published statistics. One in four children under five have a TV in their bedroom, and one in five children leave primary school without being able to read properly. Thus, while this novel was published almost twenty-five years ago, it’s message is as poignant as ever.

The tale is a charming one; Matilda’s parents neither own nor have they read, a single book between them, indeed like much of modern society they spend their time slobbed in front of the TV and have no interest in reading. At school she is befriended by her teacher Miss Honey – the niece of the evil Headmistress Miss Trunchball – who discovers that Matilda has an incredible gift and is far ahead of her years in terms of intelligence.  When Miss Honey tries to notify Matilda’s parents, they remain uninterested, as does Miss Trunchball. And thus forms an unlikely friendship between teacher and pupil, with a very happy ending.

About Matilda

Matilda Wormwood’s father thinks she’s a little scab. Matilda’s mother spends all afternoon playing bingo. And Matilda’s headmistress Miss Trunchbull? Well, she’s the worst of all. She is a big bully, who thinks all her pupils are rotten and locks them in the dreaded Chokey. As for Matilda, she’s an extraordinary little girl with a magical mind – and now she’s had enough. So all these grown-ups had better watch out, because Matilda is going to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget.

About Roald Dahl

The son of Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated at Repton. He was a fighter pilot for the RAF during World War Two, and it was while writing about his experiences during this time that he started his career as an author.

His fabulously popular children’s books are read by children all over the world. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.

He died in November 1990.

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4 comments on “Review: Matilda – Roald Dahl”

Even though I’m a bloke I completely identified with Matilda. This was something Roald Dahl always did brilliantly. His protagonists were always perfect for the young mind reading the book, a bit like how a horoscope can seem to resonate with you.

Hi – glad to hear it – I totally agree and think that Roald Dahl was fantastic at creating characters that readers could idetify with. Thanks for stopping by on my blog – let me know if you have any reading recommendations!

They just put out stamps dedicated to Roald Dahl books in the UK. They’re amazing. I’m kind of obsessed with his book The BFG.

Wow – they sound fab! The BFG is down on my reading list for next month so I’ll let you know what I think – Fantastic Mr Fox was my fae of his when I was younger 🙂

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Book Review

• Fantasy , Humor

Readability Age Range

• Jonathan Cape Ltd. published the book in 1988; this version of the book was published in 2013 by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group
• Federation of Children’s Book Groups Award, 1988

Year Published

Matilda by Roald Dahl has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Matilda Wormwood is a brilliant child. At the age of 3, she teaches herself to read using old newspapers and cooking magazines. Her parents, however, pay little attention to her. She also has a brother, but though he is kinder than her parents, the two rarely speak. Her father is a used-car salesman who brags about selling broken-down cars under false pretenses. Matilda’s mother often ignores her and leaves her home alone. One day, while Matilda’s mother is gone, the then 4-year-old walks to the library, looking for a book to read.

The librarian is surprised to see such a small child come in alone, but Matilda is so bright and well mannered that she is allowed to stay. Matilda reads all of the books in the children’s section, and on the librarian’s recommendation, begins reading Dickens, Hemingway, Steinbeck and other well-known authors.

Matilda’s parents do not support her reading habit, repeatedly calling her ignorant and stupid. When Matilda asks to be allowed to eat in her room and read, her father yells at her to eat in front of the TV like the rest of the family. Matilda, frustrated with her father’s constant neglect and verbal abuse, decides to retaliate in a small way every time someone treats her poorly.

Matilda’s first act of revenge is to put superglue around the inside of her father’s favorite hat before he leaves for work. Her father is unable to remove the hat all day and night. Matilda’s mother finally cuts it off with scissors, leaving her father with several bald patches.

About a week later, her father comes home to find Matilda reading in the living room. In a fit of rage, he snatches the library book, rips out its pages and throws it in the wastebasket. In retaliation, Matilda borrows a talking parrot that can say “hello” and “rattle my bones” from a child in her neighborhood, with whom she is a friend. She stuffs the parrot and its cage into the chimney of her house. Her frightened parents hear the voice and think it’s a burglar before concluding the house is haunted.

Her father comes home one day and instructs his son to work out a sum so the boy can begin learning about business and finance. Matilda immediately figures out the answer in her head, but when she tries to tell her father, he yells at her, calling her a liar and cheat. The next morning, Matilda replaces her father’s hair product with her mother’s platinum-blonde hair dye. Matilda’s father, who is very proud of his black hair, is deeply distressed by the new color.

At age 5, Matilda begins school. Her teacher, Miss Honey, immediately recognizes the child’s brilliance and goes to the headmistress to discuss moving Matilda to a higher grade level. Headmistress Trunchbull refuses, having been warned by Matilda’s father that if anything bad happens at school, it is likely caused by Matilda.

Ms. Trunchbull physically and verbally abuses her students, both in her capacity as headmistress and when she teaches classes. But she does so in such outrageous ways that none of the children’s parents believe the stories. Trunchbull grabs one girl by her pigtails and throws her across a field. A little boy who steals a piece of cake is forced to eat an enormous cake so he will get sick.

Trunchbull takes over one class period of each grade in the school every week. When she teaches, she expects there to be a cup and a jug of water on the desk. Matilda’s friend, Lavender, offers to get the water; however, before Trunchbull arrives, Lavender places a newt in the jug. Trunchbull comes in and proceeds to scream insults at and physically abuse students who answer questions incorrectly. She finally pours herself a glass of water, and out comes the newt.

Trunchbull immediately accuses Matilda and threatens to expel her. Matilda, outraged by this false accusation, wishes that the glass would tip over, spilling the newt onto Trunchbull. She stares intently at the glass, and something begins to happen. She is able to push the cup over with her mind. Matilda is shocked. Since she is unable to go to her parents with the information, she confides in Miss Honey.

Miss Honey urges Matilda to be cautious and invites the child to her home so they can discuss Matilda’s unique gift. When Matilda arrives, she is shocked by how bare and small Honey’s home is and begins to ask Honey about her life. As a child, Honey lived in a fine house with her parents. After her mother died, an aunt came to live with Honey and her father. The aunt was abusive, and Honey’s father died under mysterious circumstances.

A presumably fake will was produced that left everything to the aunt. When Honey got a job, the aunt took all of her wages, saying that since raising Honey was expensive, Honey owes her a great deal of money. Honey is left with one pound per week. Through careful planning, Honey was able to move out of her aunt’s house, but one pound per week is barely enough to live on. Honey then reveals that Trunchbull is her aunt.

Matilda formulates a plan to help Honey. She begins to practice using her powers, and once she is strong enough, she sets her plan in motion. When Trunchbull teaches Matilda’s class, Matilda picks up a piece of chalk with her mind and begins to write on the whiteboard. Pretending to be the ghost of Honey’s father, Matilda tells Trunchbull to leave town and give back Honey’s house and wages. Trunchbull faints, and when she awakens, leaves town after giving back Honey’s inheritance and wages.

After Trunchbull leaves, Matilda is moved to a higher grade and her powers stop working. Honey thinks that Matilda’s extraordinary mind needs a challenge. When Matilda was stuck in kindergarten, all of her excess mental energy needed somewhere to go, which resulted in her developing powers. Now that she is being academically challenged, she has less excess mental energy. Matilda is not bothered by the loss of her powers.

Matilda and Honey remain close friends and spend a great deal of time together. One afternoon, Matilda returns home to find her parents frantically packing. They inform her that they are moving to Spain in less than an hour. Distraught, Matilda rushes to Honey’s house. Honey explains that Matilda’s father has been selling stolen cars and is probably on the run from the law. Matilda begs Honey to allow her to stay. Honey agrees that Matilda can live with her, as long as Matilda’s parents agree. They raise no objection, and Matilda and Honey live together quite happily.

Christian Beliefs

Trunchbull is described as walking through a crowd of children like Moses parting the Red Sea. Honey says that if Matilda pushed over the glass with her mind, it would be the greatest miracle performed since the time of Jesus.

Other Belief Systems

Honey warns Matilda to use her powers carefully because they rely on mysterious powers. Honey says that she does not think the powers are evil and that they may be good or divine.

Authority Roles

Matilda’s parents are neglectful and cruel. They often leave Matilda home alone, even as a toddler. They disparage her for reading and verbally abuse her, calling her a twit , cheat , liar , and other insulting words. They are also relatively uneducated and always watch television.

Matilda’s father describes how he cheats his customers by rolling back the mileage on cars’ odometers and putting sawdust in the engines, so that they will run smoothly for about 100 miles before breaking down. He teaches Matilda’s brother about business and finance, but refuses to talk to Matilda about it because she is a girl. He often yells at Matilda.

Matilda’s mother leaves Matilda home alone so she can play bingo. Her mother also says that looks are more important for a girl than education. When Honey talks to Matilda’s parents about her education, they are entirely disinterested and dismissive. When the family moves to Spain, they do not hesitate to leave Matilda with Miss Honey.

Ms. Trunchbull verbally and physically abuses her students. She often punishes students without proof of wrongdoing. It is implied that she beat her niece Honey when they lived together. Trunchbull would push Honey’s head underwater in a bathtub and hold it there. Honey states that Trunchbull cowed and dominated her until she was like a slave. It is suspected that Trunchbull killed her brother-in-law. She also stole Honey’s inheritance and wages. She hates the children at the school and has no real interest in their education.

Honey is kind and caring. She is the only adult, other than the librarian, who cares about Matilda’s well-being and education. After Trunchbull refuses to move Matilda to a higher grade, Honey gives Matilda advanced textbooks to study during class time and instructs her to ask questions at the end of each period.

Though Honey is skeptical about Matilda’s powers at first, she listens and gently asks Matilda if she could knock over the glass again. Honey works hard to support herself and is optimistic despite her difficult situation. She does her best to care for and befriend Matilda, and eventually takes Matilda to live with her.

Profanity & Violence

A– is used once. Heck is used a few times. Oh my gawd appears a few times as well.

Matilda’s parents call each other and their children twit , witch , cheat , liar , ignorant , nasty , freak , wart and stupid . The parents also say “shut up” quite frequently. Trunchbull uses a variety of colorful insults throughout the entirety of the book, such as twerp , foul carbuncle , poisonous pustule , ignorant slug , stupid glob of glue , mangled little wurzel and moth-eaten maggot .

Trunchbull threatens to beat a student’s bottom until she can’t sit down for a month. She also has a tall, narrow cupboard in her office called the Chokey. It has spikes and broken glass all around the sides, and she puts children in it for hours. She throws a student out of a second-floor window for eating candy during a lesson. Trunchbull grabs a girl by her pigtails, swings her around faster and faster, and throws her out of the playground and across the playing fields.

She breaks a large china platter over a student’s head. When a boy answers a math problem incorrectly, Trunchbull holds him aloft by his hair until he says the correct answer. She lifts another student up by his ears, which are said to stretch out significantly. Honey states that she doesn’t believe that her father would have killed himself and implies that Trunchbull murdered him.

Sexual Content

Discussion topics.

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Home › Book Reviews › Book Review: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Book Review: Matilda by Roald Dahl

By georgelthomas on 22 Sep 2023 • ( 0 )

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another review . Today, I am reviewing one of my favourite books: Matilda by Roald Dahl .

Matilda by Roald Dahl was first published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape and is 239 pages long.

The Plot Matilda tells the story of a young, intelligent girl named Matilda who develops telekinetic powers, using them to punish one terrible teacher while helping another.

Characters Matilda Wormwood Matilda is a precocious five-year-old girl with a love for reading and learning that surpasses that of her neglectful parents, who believe children should not waste their time reading. In one instance, her father even tears up one of her library books, causing her to take revenge by setting up some clever practical jokes.

Later, when she attends school (she starts late because her parents forgot to make the appropriate arrangements), she is wrongly blamed for putting a newt in mean headmistress Miss Trunchbull’s water. Matilda gets so mad at being wrongly accused and discovers she has a gift, suddenly finding she can move things with her eyes, tipping over the glass of water and causing the newt to jump on Miss Trunchbull.

With the help of her lovely, kind teacher Miss Honey, Matilda learns to harness her telekinetic powers, deciding to use them to help improve her life.

Miss Honey Miss Honey, Matilda’s school teacher, immediately sees Matilda’s intelligence and compassion and is instrumental in advocating for her. She is a kind-hearted mentor who believes in her students and works to help them achieve their full potential. Miss Honey is a model of kindness, gentleness, and patience and is adored by her students. Throughout the book, she is a ceaseless support to Matilda in learning to harness her telekinetic gift and intelligence, with the two forming a close bond , becoming so close that Miss Honey confides in Matilda about her harsh upbringing.

Miss Trunchbull Miss Trunchbull is the strict headmistress of Matilda’s school (and without giving too much away, a lot more). Miss Trunchbull is a terrifying authoritarian figure with strict rules and a strong dislike for children. She is imposingly tall and muscular, having once been an Olympian, and has a brutal reputation for corporal punishment. Her punishments are often cruel and humiliating, and she is notorious for her explosive temper.

Trunchball takes an immediate dislike to Matilda because she hates intelligent children. As a matter of fact, in her ideal school, there would be no children at all.

Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood Mr. And Mrs. Wormwood are Matilda’s parents and are neglectful, selfish, and unrepentantly ignorant. Their interests lie more in watching TV and engaging in shady car deals than caring for their daughter. They see education as pointless and do not believe in reading or academic achievements. Mr Wormwood hates that Matilda is intelligent and thinks his son to be superior, even though all the evidence points to the opposite. Mrs Wormwood seems to be a little less awful to her daughter, though only slightly. She seems to care more about bingo than her children and tends to agree with her husband on most things, especially regarding their hatred of books.

Lavender Lavender is one of Matilda’s classmates, a mischievous and adventurous girl who becomes Matilda’s good friend, helping her manoeuvre around the harsh school environment. Lavender is the one who puts the newt in Miss Trunchbull’s drinking water in a moment of self-confidence and defiance.

Bruce Bogtrotter Bruce is one of the students at Matilda’s school. At one point, he is accused of stealing a slice of cake from Miss Trunchbull’s tea tray in the kitchen, a crime she sees fit to punish him for in front of the whole school. Gathering all the students together, Miss Trunchbull calls Bruce to the front of the room, where she doles out his infamous punishment: forcing him to eat an entire, giant chocolate cake. It’s clear Trunchbull intends for the boy to be sick or for him to be unable to finish eating the cake – but Bruce defies her expectations and finishes the lot to the sound of every student cheering him on. It’s one of the more memorable scenes in the story.

Writing Style One of the most notable aspects of Dahl’s writing style in general, but especially in Matilda is his use of his descriptions. Here, he paints a clear picture of Matilda’s world; from the oppressive atmosphere of her home to the empty, bare-bones feel of Miss Honey’s cottage, his descriptions are not only rich in detail but also appeal to the senses, making the reader feel as though they are right alongside the characters.

Another thing that shines through is his use of humour. Despite the heavy nature of some themes in the book, some of which are rather dark, such as neglect and mistreatment, and even the suggestion of a suicide at one point, Dahl manages to infuse the story with lightness and whimsy that keeps the tone from becoming too heavy.

Additionally, as with many of Roald Dahl’s books, he expertly captures and conveys the world from the point of view of a child. He writes with empathy and understanding of how children interpret the world around them, including how adults seem so mysterious and inexplicable. This gives the book an authentic and relatable feel, making it all the more enjoyable.

Illustrations The illustrations done by Dahl’s long-time collaborator, Quentin Blake, are an integral part of the reading experience of Roald Dahl’s books, adding depth and dimension to his fantastic stories.

In Matilda, Blake’s illustrations are instantly recognizable, and his drawing style perfectly complements Dahl’s whimsical writing. Every page is filled with his simple yet brilliantly drawn pictures, perfectly capturing the playful and mischievous spirit of the story. Their exaggerated expressions and gestures work particularly well here. From Matilda’s steely determination to Miss Trunchbull’s manic rage, and even the scenes where Matilda glues a hat to her father’s head and then tricks him into dying his hair, the illustrations perfectly portray the emotions of each character, making the story all the more engaging.

Final Thoughts I have read Matilda several times over the years. It has been a great escape from the world for me, and it has also been a go-to to read to my nephews when they were growing up.

Overall, it is a classic story that should be on the reading list of all children (and grown-ups, for that matter). It is a testament to the power of imagination, kindness, and determination and a reminder that hope exists even in the bleakest circumstances.

I am giving Matilda an 8/10.

Have you read Matilda or seen any of its adaptations? What did you think of them?

As ever, thanks for stopping by. It really means the world.

Until next time,

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Falling in Love with Reading & Roald Dahl’s Matilda | 25 Years of Matilda

Penguin Teen: I think it’s safe to say that Matilda falls head over heels in love with books. She takes a wagon to gather them from the library. She hides away in her room and reads them for hours. She loves the worlds, the knowledge, the writing. What was it like for you to fall in love with books for the first time? Was it similar to Matilda’s experience? Do you remember reading  Matilda  for the first time?

Bianca Schulze:  For me, falling in love with books could be compared with a romantic comedy in which a woman awakens one day only to realize that the boy she’s always considered her best friend is actually the man she wants to marry. Books have always been accessible to me: my mom read to me as a child, my mom read her own books in front of me and would disappear into the pages for hours, and I have had a library card for as long as I can remember—and lots of late fees too. However, it wasn’t until I became a parent that I realized that these objects full of words were a lifelong passion—I had always enjoyed books, but I was now officially “in love” with books.

I never considered myself a bookworm, but reflecting back to my childhood years I have some very fond memories that involve books and that would indicate I was always destined to be a lover of books:

• I used to build homes for Barbie out of Golden Books.
• I would spend entire recess and lunch breaks searching for Waldo in the  Where’s Waldo? books.
• I dreamed of running my own babysitting club just like the characters in Ann M. Martin’s series The Baby-sitters Club .
• I listened to many books on tape— The Wizard of Oz book on tape scared me, but I tortured myself regularly with the flying monkeys and dramatic background music.
• I also, of course, delighted in the wonderfully wicked worlds that Roald Dahl created in his books.

I can whole-heartedly say that my experience of falling in love with books was similar to Matilda’s: Once I realized how much I love to read, I immersed myself in literature—I even went as far as creating this blog! I only wish that I had realized how much I enjoyed the company of books as early as Matilda did—she’s a little genius! Now, perhaps if I had actually read Matilda as a child, it’s possible I would have connected the dots and found my calling as a literature enthusiast much sooner—perhaps I’d even be a published author.

Throughout my childhood, I read many of Dahl’s other books:  James and the Giant Peach , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator , Fantastic Mr. Fox , The Witches , The Twits (my second favorite) and (my favorite) Revolting Rhymes . Dahl’s talent lies within his power to create poignant satire—his ability to touch the hearts of young readers through absurdity is unmarked. This is why I am so thrilled to introduce Roald Dahl to my seven-year-old with the book loving character Matilda. I will always remember the first time I read Matilda because I’m currently sharing this moment with my daughter who so clearly is already in love with books. I know I am creating a lifelong reader and, with any luck, a reader that will continue to have a wickedly good sense of humor. Thank you Roald Dahl (forever in my reading heart) for your creative writing and thank you Matilda for empowering young girls to be knowledgeable and brave!

About Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to “a wonderful faraway place.” In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939 he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children’s books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died children mourned the world over.  Matilda  was published just two years before he died. Quentin Blake, the first Children’s Laureate of the United Kingdom, has illustrated most of Roald Dahl’s children’s books.

Book Overview

Matilda is a genius. Unfortunately, her family treats her like a dolt. Her crooked car-salesman father and loud, bingo-obsessed mother think Matilda’s only talent is as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in their miserable lives. But it’s not long before the sweet and sensitive child decides to fight back. Faced with practical jokes of sheer brilliance, her parents don’t stand a chance. Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.

Add this book to your collection:   Matilda

Be sure to visit the Official  Matilda  Facebook page to keep up with all things Matilda! To find out more about  Matilda the Musical on Broadway , visit their Facebook page!

For the next stop on the Matilda 25th Anniversary blog tour, head to Live to Read !

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Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review. She is a reader, reviewer, mother and children’s book lover. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, the goal is to share her passion for children’s literature to grow readers. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she now lives with her husband and three children near Boulder, Colorado.

Just saw the musical in New York about a month ago. It was hilarious. Miss Trunchbull was the star of the show for sure. No one can do absurd, sweet and dark all at the same time quite like Dahl.

I’m so envious that you have watched the musical!! I really hope to see it sometime.

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Matilda Paperback – August 16, 2007

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 240 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 3 - 7
• Lexile measure 840L
• Dimensions 7.24 x 5.42 x 0.63 inches
• Publisher Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date August 16, 2007
• ISBN-10 0142410373
• ISBN-13 978-0142410370
• See all details

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About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved..

The Trunchbull let out a yell. . .

The Trunchbull lifted the water-jug and poured some water into her glass. And suddenly, with the water, out came the long slimy newt straight into the glass, plop!

The Trunchbull let out a yell and leapt off her chair as though a firecracker had gone off underneath her.

She stared at the creature twisting and wriggling in the glass. The fires of fury and hatred were smouldering in the Trunchbull’s small black eyes.

“Matilda!” she barked. “Stand up!”

“Who, me?” Matilda said. “What have I done?”

“Stand up, you disgusting little cockroach! You filthy little maggot! You are a vile, repellent, malicious little brute!” The Trunchbull was shouting. “You are not fit to be in this school! You ought to be behind bars, that’s where you ought to be! I shall have the prefects chase you down the corridor and out of the front-door with hockey-sticks!”

The Trunchbull was in such a rage that her face had taken on a boiled colour and little flecks of froth were gathering at the corners of her mouth. But Matilda was also beginning to see red. She had had absolutely nothing to do with the beastly creature in the glass. By golly, she thought, that rotten Trunchbull isn’t going to pin this one on me!

Puffin Books by Roald Dahl

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Danny the Champion of the World

Dirty Beasts

The Enormous Crocodile

Fantastic Mr. Fox

George’s Marvelous Medicine

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

James and the Giant Peach

The Magic Finger

The Minpins

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

The Witches

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

Roald   Dahl

illustrated by Quentin Blake

PUFFIN BOOKS

For Michael and Lucy

The Reader of Books

Mr Wormwood, the Great Car Dealer

The Hat and the Superglue

The Platinum-Blond Man

The Trunchbull

The Parents

Throwing the Hammer

Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake

The Weekly Test

The First Miracle

The Second Miracle

Miss Honey’s Cottage

Miss Honey’s Story

The Practice

The Third Miracle

It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.

Some parents go further. They become so blinded by adoration they manage to convince themselves their child has qualities of genius.

Well, there is nothing very wrong with all this. It’s the way of the world. It is only when the parents begin telling us about the brilliance of their own revolting offspring, that we start shouting, “Bring us a basin! We’re going to be sick!”

School teachers suffer a good deal from having to listen to this sort of twaddle from proud parents, but they usually get their own back when the time comes to write the end-of-term reports. If I were a teacher I would cook up some real scorchers for the children of doting parents. “Your son Maximilian”, I would write, “is a total wash-out. I hope you have a family business you can push him into when he leaves school because he sure as heck won’t get a job anywhere else.” Or if I were feeling lyrical that day, I might write, “It is a curious truth that grasshoppers have their hearing-organs in the sides of the abdomen. Your daughter Vanessa, judging by what she’s learnt this term, has no hearing-organs at all.”

I might even delve deeper into natural history and say, “The periodical cicada spends six years as a grub underground, and no more than six days as a free creature of sunlight and air. Your son Wilfred has spent six years as a grub in this school and we are still waiting for him to emerge from the chrysalis.” A particularly poisonous little girl might sting me into saying, “Fiona has the same glacial beauty as an iceberg, but unlike the iceberg she has absolutely nothing below the surface.” I think I might enjoy writing end-of-term reports for the stinkers in my class. But enough of that. We have to get on.

Occasionally one comes across parents who take the opposite line, who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones. Mr and Mrs Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab. A scab is something you have to put up with until the time comes when you can pick it off and flick it away. Mr and Mrs Wormwood looked forward enormously to the time when they could pick their little daughter off and flick her away, preferably into the next county or even further than that.

It is bad enough when parents treat ordinary children as though they were scabs and bunions, but it becomes somehow a lot worse when the child in question is extra ordinary, and by that I mean sensitive and brilliant. Matilda was both of these things, but above all she was brilliant. Her mind was so nimble and she was so quick to learn that her ability should have been obvious even to the most half-witted of parents. But Mr and Mrs Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter. To tell the truth, I doubt they would have noticed had she crawled into the house with a broken leg.

Matilda’s brother Michael was a perfectly normal boy, but the sister, as I said, was something to make your eyes pop. By the age of one and a half her speech was perfect and she knew as many words as most grown-ups. The parents, instead of applauding her, called her a noisy chatterbox and told her sharply that small girls should be seen and not heard.

By the time she was three , Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four , she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting.

“Daddy,” she said, “do you think you could buy me a book?”

“A book ?” he said. “What d’you want a flaming book for?”

“To read, Daddy.”

“What’s wrong with the telly, for heaven’s sake? We’ve got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You’re getting spoiled, my girl!”

Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother (five years older than her) went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo in a town eight miles away. Mrs Wormwood was hooked on bingo and played it five afternoons a week. On the afternoon of the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set out all by herself to walk to the public library in the village. When she arrived, she introduced herself to the librarian, Mrs Phelps. She asked if she might sit awhile and read a book. Mrs Phelps, slightly taken aback at the arrival of such a tiny girl unaccompanied by a parent, nevertheless told her she was very welcome.

“Where are the children’s books please?” Matilda asked.

“They’re over there on those lower shelves,” Mrs Phelps told her. “Would you like me to help you find a nice one with lots of pictures in it?”

“No, thank you,” Matilda said. “I’m sure I can manage.”

From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library. The walk took only ten minutes and this allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy corner devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children’s book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else.

Mrs Phelps, who had been watching her with fascination for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her. “Can I help you, Matilda?” she asked.

“I’m wondering what to read next,” Matilda said. “I’ve finished all the children’s books.”

“You mean you’ve looked at the pictures?”

“Yes, but I’ve read the books as well.”

Mrs Phelps looked down at Matilda from her great height and Matilda looked right back up at her.

“I thought some were very poor,” Matilda said, “but others were lovely. I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery. The mystery of the room behind the closed door and the mystery of the garden behind the big wall.”

Mrs Phelps was stunned. “Exactly how old are you, Matilda?” she asked.

“Four years and three months,” Matilda said.

Mrs Phelps was more stunned than ever, but she had the sense not to show it. “What sort of a book would you like to read next?” she asked.

Matilda said, “I would like a really good one that grown-ups read. A famous one. I don’t know any names.”

Mrs Phelps looked along the shelves, taking her time. She didn’t quite know what to bring out. How, she asked herself, does one choose a famous grown-up book for a four-year-old girl? Her first thought was to pick a young teenager’s romance of the kind that is written for fifteen-year-old schoolgirls, but for some reason she found herself instinctively walking past that particular shelf.

“Try this,” she said at last. “It’s very famous and very good. If it’s too long for you, just let me know and I’ll find something shorter and a bit easier.”

“Great Expectations,” Matilda read, “by Charles Dickens. I’d love to try it.”

I must be mad, Mrs Phelps told herself, but to Matilda she said, “Of course you may try it.”

Over the next few afternoons Mrs Phelps could hardly take her eyes from the small girl sitting for hour after hour in the big armchair at the far end of the room with the book on her lap. It was necessary to rest it on the lap because it was too heavy for her to hold up, which meant she had to sit leaning forward in order to read. And a strange sight it was, this tiny dark-haired person sitting there with her feet nowhere near touching the floor, totally absorbed in the wonderful adventures of Pip and old Miss Havisham and her cobwebbed house and by the spell of magic that Dickens the great story-teller had woven with his words. The only movement from the reader was the lifting of the hand every now and then to turn over a page, and Mrs Phelps always felt sad when the time came for her to cross the floor and say, “It’s ten to five, Matilda.”

During the first week of Matilda’s visits Mrs Phelps had said to her, “Does your mother walk you down here every day and then take you home?”

“My mother goes to Aylesbury every afternoon to play bingo,” Matilda had said. “She doesn’t know I come here.”

“But that’s surely not right,” Mrs Phelps said. “I think you’d better ask her.”

“I’d rather not,” Matilda said. “She doesn’t encourage reading books. Nor does my father.”

“But what do they expect you to do every afternoon in an empty house?”

“Just mooch around and watch the telly.”

“She doesn’t really care what I do,” Matilda said a little sadly.

Mrs Phelps was concerned about the child’s safety on the walk through the fairly busy village High Street and the crossing of the road, but she decided not to interfere.

Within a week, Matilda had finished Great Expectations which in that edition contained four hundred and eleven pages. “I loved it,” she said to Mrs Phelps. “Has Mr Dickens written any others?”

“A great number,” said the astounded Mrs Phelps. “Shall I choose you another?”

Over the next six months, under Mrs Phelps’s watchful and compassionate eye, Matilda read the following books:

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Gone to Earth by Mary Webb

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Animal Farm by George Orwell

It was a formidable list and by now Mrs Phelps was filled with wonder and excitement, but it was probably a good thing that she did not allow herself to be completely carried away by it all. Almost anyone else witnessing the achievements of this small child would have been tempted to make a great fuss and shout the news all over the village and beyond, but not so Mrs Phelps. She was someone who minded her own business and had long since discovered it was seldom worth while to interfere with other people’s children.

“Mr Hemingway says a lot of things I don’t understand,” Matilda said to her. “Especially about men and women. But I loved it all the same. The way he tells it I feel I am right there on the spot watching it all happen.”

“A fine writer will always make you feel that,” Mrs Phelps said. “And don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.”

“I will, I will.”

“Did you know”, Mrs Phelps said, “that public libraries like this allow you to borrow books and take them home?”

“I didn’t know that,” Matilda said. “Could I do it?”

“Of course,” Mrs Phelps said. “When you have chosen the book you want, bring it to me so I can make a note of it and it’s yours for two weeks. You can take more than one if you wish.”

From then on, Matilda would visit the library only once a week in order to take out new books and return the old ones. Her own small bedroom now became her reading-room and there she would sit and read most afternoons, often with a mug of hot chocolate beside her. She was not quite tall enough to reach things around the kitchen, but she kept a small box in the outhouse which she brought in and stood on in order to get whatever she wanted. Mostly it was hot chocolate she made, warming the milk in a saucepan on the stove before mixing it. Occasionally she made Bovril or Ovaltine. It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

Matilda’s parents owned quite a nice house with three bedrooms upstairs, while on the ground floor there was a dining-room and a living-room and a kitchen. Her father was a dealer in second-hand cars and it seemed he did pretty well at it.

“Sawdust”, he would say proudly, “is one of the great secrets of my success. And it costs me nothing. I get it free from the sawmill.”

“What do you use it for?” Matilda asked him.

“Ha!” the father said. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I don’t see how sawdust can help you to sell second-hand cars, daddy.”

“That’s because you’re an ignorant little twit,” the father said. His speech was never very delicate but Matilda was used to it. She also knew that he liked to boast and she would egg him on shamelessly.

“You must be very clever to find a use for something that costs nothing,” she said. “I wish I could do it.”

“You couldn’t,” the father said. “You’re too stupid. But I don’t mind telling young Mike here about it seeing he’ll be joining me in the business one day.” Ignoring Matilda, he turned to his son and said, “I’m always glad to buy a car when some fool has been crashing the gears so badly they’re all worn out and rattle like mad. I get it cheap. Then all I do is mix a lot of sawdust with the oil in the gear-box and it runs as sweet as a nut.”

“How long will it run like that before it starts rattling again?” Matilda asked him.

“Long enough for the buyer to get a good distance away,” the father said, grinning. “About a hundred miles.”

“But that’s dishonest, daddy,” Matilda said. “It’s cheating.”

“No one ever got rich being honest,” the father said. “Customers are there to be diddled.”

Mr Wormwood was a small ratty-looking man whose front teeth stuck out underneath a thin ratty moustache. He liked to wear jackets with large brightly-coloured checks and he sported ties that were usually yellow or pale green. “Now take mileage for instance,” he went on. “Anyone who’s buying a second-hand car, the first thing he wants to know is how many miles it’s done. Right?”

“Right,” the son said.

“So I buy an old dump that’s got about a hundred and fifty thousand miles on the clock. I get it cheap. But no one’s going to buy it with a mileage like that, are they? And these days you can’t just take the speedometer out and fiddle the numbers back like you used to ten years ago. They’ve fixed it so it’s impossible to tamper with it unless you’re a ruddy watchmaker or something. So what do I do? I use my brains, laddie, that’s what I do.”

“How?” young Michael asked, fascinated. He seemed to have inherited his father’s love of crookery.

“I sit down and say to myself, how can I convert a mileage reading of one hundred and fifty thousand into only ten thousand without taking the speedometer to pieces? Well, if I were to run the car backwards for long enough then obviously that would do it. The numbers would click backwards, wouldn’t they? But who’s going to drive a flaming car in reverse for thousands and thousands of miles? You couldn’t do it!”

“Of course you couldn’t,” young Michael said.

“So I scratch my head,” the father said. “I use my brains. When you’ve been given a fine brain like I have, you’ve got to use it. And all of a sudden, the answer hits me. I tell you, I felt exactly like that other brilliant fellow must have felt when he discovered penicillin. ‘Eureka!’ I cried. ‘I’ve got it!’”

“What did you do, dad?” the son asked him.

“The speedometer”, Mr Wormwood said, “is run off a cable that is coupled up to one of the front wheels. So first I disconnect the cable where it joins the front wheel. Next, I get one of those high-speed electric drills and I couple that up to the end of the cable in such a way that when the drill turns, it turns the cable backwards. You got me so far? You following me?”

“Yes, daddy,” young Michael said.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (August 16, 2007)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0142410373
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0142410370
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 6 - 10 years, from customers
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 840L
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.24 x 5.42 x 0.63 inches
• #54 in Children's Humor
• #59 in Children's Classics
• #62 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Books

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About the authors

Quentin blake.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

The son of Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated at Repton. He was a fighter pilot for the RAF during World War Two, and it was while writing about his experiences during this time that he started his career as an author.

His fabulously popular children's books are read by children all over the world. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.

He died in November 1990.

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Bernie gourley: traveling poet-philosopher & aspiring puddle dancer.

BOOK REVIEW: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Amazon page

[The Sarah Walsh illustrated edition comes out October 13, 2020.]

Matilda is a precocious child with parents who are negligent and verbally abusive. The story picks up shortly before Matilda is set to begin kindergarten, presumably so that we can learn that she is a preschool autodidact and that she has crappy parents. We also witness how she takes to “punishing” her parents whenever one or both of them behave in a particularly vile manner, using what might best be described as pranks. The empowerment of children, girls, and bookish people is the central theme of the book

Matilda begins school and is at once delighted to find a kind and caring teacher, Ms. Honey, and dismayed to find that the Principal, Mrs. Trunchbull, is a horrible woman. While Ms. Honey recognizes Matilda’s brilliance, she cannot get the girl advanced to a suitable grade because both Matilda’s parents and Trunchbull refuse to recognize the girl’s intellect. Dahl takes on both the cause of feminism and the plight of nerds. In the case of the former, we see how Matilda is disregarded by both her parents because she is a girl and they don’t see much value in her education and can’t fathom that she would be good at learning. While Matilda’s brother doesn’t exactly get top-notch parenting, at least some effort is made to advance his education. In the case of the latter, Dahl shows the derision for reading and studiousness that is all too common in society.

I won’t delve into the details of the balance of the story except to say that when Matilda discovers that Ms. Honey’s life is even more harrowing than her own, the young girl resolves to use her talents and capabilities to help improve Honey’s lot.

I read the version of the book, illustrated by Sarah Walsh, that is coming out in the autumn of 2020. Dahl’s story is the same, but the art is different. Having seen the Quentin Blake illustrated books, I’m aware of the difference between the two. However, as a non-artist, I don’t have much vocabulary to give a detailed description of said difference. I can say the Blake art is more reminiscent of old comic strips and the Walsh work was more cleanly drawn and “realistic,” while maintaining a general sense of whimsy and a bright color palette. I enjoyed the artwork, though I don’t claim a particular eye for such things.

I’d highly recommend this book for fiction readers. It’s written for children, but if you’ve gotten to adulthood without checking it out, it’s worth going back to read it. While the villainy maybe over-the-top for adult readers (i.e. there aren’t any nuanced characters,) the story has emotional resonance and is satisfyingly concluded. As to the question of the age of children it is good for, I don’t have much expertise in that either. However, as a litmus test, ask yourself if you think the kid can assimilate the image of Trunchbull swinging a girl by her ponytails – as in the hammer-throw – and tossing her over a fence.

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10 thoughts on “ BOOK REVIEW: Matilda by Roald Dahl ”

I still have my copy from when I was 10 years old. Brilliant review of an amazing book! 👍🖤

Like Liked by 1 person

You’re most welcome 🖤

I have not read this one but will be sure to check it out. Dahl is a true master that I found as an adult 🙂

Like Liked by 2 people

Read the book in fourth and fifth grade before seeing the film version, which I now have on DVD.

Yes! Love Dahl 🙂 I went to see the RSC musical of Matilda, and it reminded me of how I loved the book when I was younger. I’ve also found that Dahl did some adult fiction – have you come across it? I reviewed his short story ‘Taste’ on my blog if you’re interested!

I’ve read the two parts of his memoirs, but don’t know that I’ve read any of his fiction that targets adults — if I have it must have been short form.

Yeah, I’ve not heard of any longer form adult fiction by Dahl – he published a bunch of short stories under the collection title ‘Kiss Kiss’, I believe. 🙂 Did you enjoy the memoirs? Perhaps I will look them up. 🙂

The first part “Boy” is kind of aimed at kids [it’s a little bit of a Matilda story applied to his own life in boarding school.] The second part — Going Solo — is written to appeal more to adults is split between his life as a combat pilot in WWII and his life in Africa. He led and interesting life. Both parts are short and readable. I enjoyed them.

Amazing, thanks! I’ll definitely have a look. 😊 If they’re short… stay tuned on my blog for my inevitable review of them!! 😂❤️📚

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Book Review: Matilda

Roald Dahl's Matilda, is a good short read. The concept of a heroine rising to action is decently intriguing. However, the book feels very lackluster with its characters being so one dimensional. While the characters are great for its intended audience, creating some depth to characters can always benefit a novel. Overall, the book is great for younger reader and those looking for a short book that has a lot of fun packed into it.

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Roald Dahl was by all accounts a singularly unpleasant person, which may explain why he wrote stories that are so fascinating to children. He nursed the grudges of childhood, he distrusted adults, and he was unmoved by false sentimentality. Kids may not feel cuddled by his books, but they sense Dahl is the real thing: He's writing out of strong emotion, and not just to be cute. Consider the character of Trunchbull, in the darkly comic new film “Matilda.” Trunchbull must be a woman, because she is someone's aunt, but she is never called “Miss”--and we see at once that “Mrs.” would be out of the question. She was a champion shot-putter and hammer-thrower in the 1972 Olympics, we learn, before moving on to her current career as the school principal and dominatrix at Crunchem Hall, a fearsome grade school with the motto: “When you are having fun, you are not learning.” To this school comes the heroine of the story, Matilda Wormwood ( Mara Wilson ), a very, very smart little girl whose parents neglect her when they are not insulting her. Matilda, left at home alone all day, has taught herself to read and walked to the library, where by the time she is 6 she has read not only “Heidi” and “Ivanhoe,” but also “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Moby Dick.” When she tells her parents ( Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman ) she's old enough to go to school, her dad replies: “Nonsense! Who would sign for the packages?” But when he meets the redoubtable Trunchbull he announces that he has at last found the right school for Matilda. Trunchbull, played by Pam Ferris with great zest and well-hidden but genuine humor, is not a nice person. “Sit down, you squirming worm of vomit!” she says to the hapless Matilda at one point, and later calls her “You villainous sack of dog slime!” When a cute little blond girl dares to wearer hair in pigtails, Trunchbull seizes the child by the pigtails, swings her around and hurls her through the air like a hammer in the Olympics--and of course the movie does not neglect to show the girl narrowly miss a spike fence before landing safely in a flower bed. Trunchbull is the kind of villainess children can enjoy, because she is too ridiculous to be taken seriously and yet really is mean and evil, like the witch in “Snow White.” And since most children have at one time or another felt that their parents are not nice enough to them, they may also enjoy the portrait of Matilda's parents. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood and their older son spend all of their time gobbling food and watching television, and when Matilda says she would rather read, her incredulous father cries, “Read? What do you want to read for when you got a perfectly good TV set right here?” Crunchem Hall is a school that would have appalled Dickens. Children are punished by solitary confinement in a steamy closet with nails sticking through the walls. But redemption comes in the person of a saintly teacher, Miss Honey ( Embeth Davidtz ), who is amazed when little Matilda does difficult math problems in her head, and eventually becomes her guardian and best friend. “Matilda” is not in any sense a “children's movie,” although older children will probably like it a lot. It is a dark family comedy about stupid parents, cruel teachers and a brave little girl, and it is no surprise to find that Danny DeVito not only stars but directed it. Consider that his previous directing credits include “Throw Momma From the Train” and “ The War of the Roses ,” and you sense that he has some kind of deep mordant fascination for dysfunctional families (the family life in his “ Hoffa ” was not exactly functional, either).

There is never a moment (except toward the happy ending) that we sense DeVito is anything other than quite serious about this material. He goes with Dahl’s macabre vision. Whatever it was that hurt Dahl so deeply, he never forgave it, and his children's stories (like “James and the Giant Peach” and “ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ”) are driven by it. DeVito seems to vibrate on the same wavelength. “Matilda” doesn't condescend to children, it doesn’t sentimentalize, and as a result it feels heartfelt and sincere. It's funny, too.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Matilda (1996)

Rated PG For Elements Of Exaggerated Meanness and Ridicule, and For Some Mild Language

100 minutes

Mara Wilson as Matilda

Danny DeVito as Mr. Wormwood

Rhea Perlman as Mrs. Wormwood

Embeth Davidtz as Miss Honey

Pam Ferris as Trunchbul

Based On The Book by

• Nicholas Kazan
• Robin Swicord

Directed by

• Danny DeVito

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30 best children’s books: From Alice in Wonderland to Matilda

W e all have cherished memories of the books we read and shared as children. Big friendly giants, honey-loving bears, hungry caterpillars, iron men: these figures populate the vivid imaginary landscapes of our childhoods. Everybody will remember the book that made them laugh and cry, the one that they turn to again and again. Like totems, we pass them on to our own children, each book a spell in itself.

But there isn’t room in this list for everything. I’m sure that every single reader will gasp at omissions and query the order. There are many personal favourites that I’ve left out, and many more 20th- and 21st-century writers whom I would have liked to include.

This isn’t intended as a definitive ranking; but as an overview, and a guide. You’ll recognise many; a few perhaps will be not so well known, but deserve more attention. I’ve considered influence as well as originality; but crucially, all of the books here have stood the tests of time, taste and, most importantly, readers. Each one, whenever it was published, can be read and enjoyed by a child today as much as it was by the children of the past.

I hope too that this will encourage many adult readers to turn back to their childhood shelves, take up that long-forgotten gem, and find wonder and magic once more.

So – are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin.

1. The Alice books by Lewis Carroll (19th century)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , and Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice Found There , are an extraordinary brace of books, written by the mathematician Charles Dodgson, under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. He employed logic, humour and inventive fantasy, fashioning the most powerful and unusual works in children’s literature. Some have tried to work out why a raven is like a writing desk. But most will be content to be drawn away into enchantment.

2. Kinder- und Hausmarchen (‘Nursery and Household Tales’) by The Brothers Grimm (19th century)

Exceptionally influential, this collection of more than 200 tales underwent many editions in the Grimms’ lifetime. Though the seamier elements were altered for a prudish bourgeois audience, the fairy tales retain a depth that resonates with children and adults alike. We all know The Frog Prince and Hansel and Gretel ; but have you read Hans my Hedgehog , about a half-boy, half-hedgehog?

3. Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (19th century)

A strange and shy man, Hans Christian Andersen produced some of the most beautiful and reverberant literary fairy tales in the world, about loss, love and longing. Gerda’s search for her brother Kay in The Snow Queen ; the little mermaid’s mute passion for her prince; gorgeously written, the stories offer solace and enchantment.

4. The One Thousand and One Nights by Anon. ( Folk tales )

This scintillating series, which Scheherazade spins to her royal husband every night so that he spares her life to hear their conclusion, first came to Europe in 1704 in a French text that also contained Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad the Sailor. Elemental, opulent and wondrous, the stories are full of passion and revenges, and remain enormously influential.

5. Peter and Wendy by J M Barrie (1911)

Some would argue that this novelised form of the play Peter Pan is not a children’s book, being instead complicit with an ironic, adult viewpoint. However, this, and all its variants, are enjoyed immensely by children. There is the theme-park world of Neverland: the sense of unbounded imagination, and the dizzying allure of flight and magic.

6. The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (1678)

One of the first books enthusiastically taken up by children, this is now largely neglected, even by adults and scholars. Unjustly so, as its allegorical power and beauty are unsurpassed. Its humour and colloquial nature mean it is still accessible. From the Slough of Despond to the Celestial City, it brims with memorable places and people.

7. The Narnia series by CS Lewis (mid-20th century)

The best children’s books have a way of altering the universe around them. Everyone can remember their first encounter with Narnia and then trying to get through the back of the wardrobe afterwards into the enticing other world. Lewis’s stroke of genius, of course, was making the animals talk; the knightly adventures of the children are gripping.

8. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (1995)

Philip Pullman’s daemons, in his lavishly-imagined alternative world run by a sinister religious organisation, are among the most enduring creations of children’s literature. His themes are cosmic and vast, with a dizzying sense of possibility. His story is spellbinding, and, in Lyra Belacqua, he made a heroine at once appealing, spiky and enduring.

9. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (1937)

In The Hobbit , an odder book than it at first appears, the tiny hairy-footed Bilbo Baggins goes on a journey with some dwarves, and is actually rewarded for being a thief. The charm of the hobbits’ world is matched by the excitement of the adventures Bilbo finds himself entangled in and many readers will be led on to its vast sequel, The Lord of the Rings .

10. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908)

There is some debate as to whether The Wind in the Willows is a children’s book, or whether it’s really a book to lift up the spirits of down-trodden city clerks. Either way, the gentle adventures of Mole and Ratty, and Toad’s ridiculous shenanigans, express a lyrical love of the pleasures of rural life.

11. The Once and Future King by TH White (1958)

Captivating, wise, witty, this collection of three earlier books treats the Matter of Britain. TH White’s masterstroke was to imagine the young king Arthur as Wart, an ordinary boy thrust into extraordinary situations, and his Merlin as a kindly, forgetful old man (viz. Dumbledore). Neglected in recent years, White deserves a place in the limelight once more.

12. Five Children and It by E Nesbit (1902)

A representative from the first Golden Age of children’s fiction in the early 20th century. Nesbit’s grumpy, vain wish-granting Psammead (or “sand fairy”), an immortal who used to eat pterodactyl for breakfast, offers adventure in a world without oppressive evil. The brothers and sisters find that magic doesn’t always offer a solution.

13. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894)

Raised by wolves, Mowgli must face the terrible tiger Shere Khan, with the help of Baloo, a “sleepy brown bear”, and Bagheera, a panther. Full of invention and adventure, the stories were an immediate hit, the behaviour of the animals believable and, paradoxically, human. Their wildness and subtleties have become thoroughly imbued into the popular imagination.

14. Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988)

I’m willing to bet that after reading this, many children stared at pencils, hoping they might be able to move them with their mind alone. Dahl’s exuberant imagination is on full display in this emotionally weighty story about a little girl’s fight for love and escape. Miss Trunchbull, the vicious headmistress, is one of literature’s great villains.

15. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)

A picture book that reveals more about itself each time it’s read. Note how the pictures expand as Max’s imaginative world grows; how the text, poetic and spare, interacts with the visuals; how Max, through his journey into the interior of his self, meets and conquers his anger at his mother. The drawings are lovely, too.

16. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (1936)

What at first seems to be a delightful story about a little bull who hates fighting becomes a potent fable about what’s expected of boys. Rejecting masculine violence, Ferdinand prefers just to sit under a cork tree. The illustrations of Spanish matadors, picadors and their arenas are astoundingly evocative.

17. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1962)

This has all the hallmarks of classic children’s literature: missing parents, a usurping adult, terrible injustices and the romance of winter and wolves. Set in an alternative historical era, where James III rules, little Bonnie’s fortune is snatched by a sinister governess. Children will cheer when she gets her comeuppance.

18. The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin (1968)

The recent death of Ursula Le Guin, aged 88, has brought renewed attention to her works. Ged, a dark-skinned boy from the goat herding island of Gont, demonstrates exceptional powers and is sent to learn how to be a wizard. His resulting quest is epic, with a depth and strangeness that lasts.

19. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (1958)

Considered by many to be one of children’s literature’s most outstanding examples. Tom is packed away to stay with his aunt and uncle: but when the clock strikes thirteen, he finds a gorgeous garden, and in it a little girl called Hatty who seems to come from a different time. Emotionally rich, it will leave a lasting impression on any child.

20. The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively (1973)

Penelope Lively once said that “children need to sense that we live in a permanent world that reaches away behind and ahead of us”. Her writing encompasses a huge range, and this, her Carnegie-winning novel about a house beset by the spirit of a sorceror, is eerie, effective and involving.

21. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling (late 20th century)

First published more than 20 years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone blazed into the world’s consciousness like a bolt of lightning. Moving from the initial wonder and quirky charm of the first three books, the series took on a darker tone, resulting in an enthralling septet and a cultural phenomenon.

22. The Scarecrows by Robert Westall (1981)

I’ve chosen The Scarecrows over The Machine Gunners, which is perhaps Westall’s better known book, as I think this has a quality of terror and an understanding of adolescence that is matchless. It focuses on a boy’s tortured relationship with his stepfather and the encroachment of a murder that happened many years before. Unforgettably spine-tingling, and profoundly affecting.

23. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (2001)

A wondrously clever book that upturns children’s literature convention. Its hero, Artemis Fowl, is a 12-year-old boy who also happens to be a criminal mastermind. Containing such characters as a kleptomaniac, flatulent dwarf, and a centaur called Foaly who’s also a technical whizz, this is a hilarious delight.

24. Down with Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and their Parents by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle (1953)

As any fule know, reading Molesworth is like being a member of a secret skool gang. Complemented by Ronald Searle’s satirical drawings of depressed, deluded schoolmasters and grubby, disobedient schoolboys, all the world’s vanity and hypocrisy is on display through Molesworth’s cynical, instantly likeable and badly spelled voice. A grate writer, indeed.

25. The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban (1967)

A bittersweet and unusual tale, in which a clockwork mouse and his child are thrown out of a toy shop, and then must embark on a journey to find safety. Unlike the film Toy Story , in which the toys are complicit in their servitude, this allows discarded toys to find a world of their own, constructed according to their own terms. Full of striking imagery and exciting scenes.

26. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (2001)

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman’s novel described a world in which black Africans had enslaved white Europeans. Whites, or noughts, were economically impoverished, while the blacks, or crosses, were in power. An inter-racial love affair between two teens brings first passion and then tragedy. Powerful, provocative and original.

27. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (2015)

The recent winner of the overall Costa Book Awards is a remarkable novel from a remarkable writer. Hardinge is a true original, her sentences poised and poetic, her alternative 19th-century world fully imagined, and her intelligent, enquiring female lead not simply a good role model but also a fine addition to literature.

28. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (2003)

Quite simply, Cressida Cowell has an exceptional ability to give children what they like. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a Viking who doesn’t fit in: gawky and geeky, his adventures with his hunting-dragon Toothless are madcap and marvellous. Give it to a child and see them become engrossed immediately.

29. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)

Even Potter knew she was writing nostalgically about an imagined past, but who could not fail to love this slyly observed tale of a naughty rabbit? Potter’s arch, almost Austen-esque prose interacts seamlessly with her keenly observed studies of flora and fauna. Avoid the new film and stick to the original.

30. Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (1857)

This moving, charming and poignant tale of boarding school life is included partly for its own merits, but also as it was the first in the school story genre that spawned so many thousands of books, through Enid Blyton right up to JK Rowling. And, of course, the bully Flashman, without whom we wouldn’t have George MacDonald Fraser’s hilarious series detailing his further adventures.

Philip Womack is the author of six critically acclaimed books for children, including The Liberators (2010), The Broken King (2014), and The Double Axe (2016). He teaches children’s literature, and children’s and young adult fiction at Royal Holloway, University of London, and is crowdfunding a novel on Unbound, The Arrow of Apollo, set in a legendary mythical past

From news to politics, travel to sport, culture to climate – The Independent has a host of free newsletters to suit your interests. To find the stories you want to read, and more, in your inbox, click here .

This article may contain affiliate links that Microsoft and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links.

Book Review: Emil Ferris tackles big issues through a small child with a monster obsession

Emil Ferris follows up her visually stunning 2017 debut graphic novel with its concluding half, “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book 2.”

There are two types of monsters: Ones that simply appear scary and ones that are scary by their cruelty. Karen Reyes is the former, but what does that make her troubled older brother, Deeze?

Emil Ferris has finally followed up on her visually stunning, 2017 debut graphic novel with its concluding half, “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book 2.” It picks up right where Book 1 left off (spoilers for Book 1 … now), with 10-year-old Karen in a fever dream as she processes her mother’s death from cancer and the revelation that she had another brother named Victor before his twin Deeze killed him.

For the uninitiated, the story is essentially Karen's diary as she dons a detective hat and oversized coat to solve mysteries — like who killed the upstairs neighbor and where her emaciated classmate disappeared to — in 1968 Chicago, featuring historical events like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and Vietnam War protests. Karen, a monster-loving Catholic school student who identifies more with werewolves than with girls, sketches her experiences in lined notebooks. She has an astounding ability to capture people — a technically skilled artist who also sees through her subjects and depicts their nature alongside their features. And she's gay, something her beloved Mama definitely did not approve of and which she must now reconcile with the society she lives in.

“Monsters” may be narrated by a kid, but it is definitely an adult book with adult language and themes. Ferris raises complicated issues ranging from the patriarchy’s role in homophobia and America’s role in eugenics to the merits of capitalism, socialism and communism. Along with why school sucks.

And I cannot give Ferris enough accolades for acknowledging the depth of children, who often see and understand more than most adults want to admit.

Ferris revels in gray areas and often calls taboos and moral lines into question, using Karen's elementary-age perspective as an opportunity to see people not as their profession, race or sexuality, but as people — or, in any case, monsters, but equalizing regardless.

Although Book 2 has an introduction and brief callbacks to remind readers who’s who and what happened, it’s really best to read or reread Book 1 first. There are tons of characters at play and it’s a multi-faceted story that requires deep reading. The recaps are decent reminders, but they can’t possibly capture the nuance from Book 1 in just a page or two.

If Book 2 seems almost too familiar, that's because it follows the same basic plot arc as Book 1, even down to starting and ending with wild dreams. But unlike its prequel, the plot jumps around with considerably more frequency and suddenness. Ferris leans on her readers to read between the lines and apply the same techniques for viewing her art that her characters use when they visit the Art Institute of Chicago.

“Monsters” is an incredible feat of both storytelling and artistic achievement that makes for a brag-worthy coffee table art book, as well as a compelling story with a seriously intense moral and philosophical workout. Ferris is a must-have for any comic-lover’s collection.

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

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Divorced, Disheveled and Hiking Toward Love

In David Nicholls’s “You Are Here,” a boggy trek through the English countryside becomes an unlikely impetus for midlife romance.

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By Paul Rudnick

Paul Rudnick is the author of “Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style.”

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YOU ARE HERE, by David Nicholls

David Nicholls’s captivating new novel takes place almost entirely during a guided, days-long walk through the English countryside, past perilous crags, moors and villages with names like Buttermere, Honister Pass and Bolton-on-Swale. In lesser hands, “You Are Here” might be a literal slog, but Nicholls has fashioned an ideal structure for an affectingly hard-won romance, a genre he has honed as the author of many best sellers, including the much loved and repeatedly adapted “One Day.”

Here, a sightseeing, exercise-anticipating group — “four single people, a married couple, a teenager” — is soon winnowed, thanks to the punishing rain and boot-sucking mud, to just two: Michael Bradshaw, a geography teacher, and Marnie Walsh, a freelance copy editor, both barely recovered from divorces.

Michael, while morosely pining for his ex, still becomes a sturdy and slyly amusing authority figure, his journey “the kind of obsessive project that overtakes men in the middle of life.” He believes that “stepping outside transformed loneliness into solitude,” and his recently grown beard gives him the look, according to Marnie, of “someone who’d spent a year filming puffins in the Hebrides.” While rarely self-pitying, Michael is flailing amid the debris of a loving marriage gone sour and the aftershocks of a random act of street violence.

Marnie is a compulsively witty, winningly cranky near-agoraphobe. While the novel isn’t set during the coronavirus pandemic, those years of enforced isolation and working from home inform the narrative, as Michael and Marnie crawl out from their respective, maybe-too-comfortable burrows. Marnie grew up so obsessed with books that “my parents actually told me to read less.” She admits that she sometimes wished she were an orphan, although “only for the narrative possibilities.”

After splitting from a shallow and unappreciative husband who resembled “the least popular member of a boy band,” Marnie, whose career can be pursued entirely on her laptop, has become estranged from coupled friends and their growing families. She’s someone addicted to “the pleasure of the canceled plan” — not out of envy or spite, but a hermit’s discomfort.

Pushing herself to turn outward, she prepares for the group trek by purchasing “socks of an unimaginable complexity, based on a design by NASA, and a red woolly beanie because wasn’t 95 percent of body heat lost through the head? She bought thermals in case of snow, sunblock in case of sun, she bought maps and a clear waterproof pouch for the maps, and a rucksack with a pocket for the map pouch plus the capacity to carry 40 liters of clothing, though she struggled to imagine what 40 liters of clothing would look like.” In his pack, the more experienced Michael has a single “night-life shirt” and one pair of underwear, which he scrubs in bathroom sinks and leaves on radiators to dry overnight.

Both protagonists are prickly, smart and desperately yearning, but utterly guarded for understandably good reasons. As in the best romances, we cherish Michael’s and Marnie’s difficult personalities, and relish the unlikely process that might bring them together.

Their walk provides a perfect backdrop for conversations that begin with banter and deepen into confession, always enlivened with humor and factoids about limestone outcroppings that should be tedious but also resonate and entertain. Over the course of a week, Marnie keeps plotting escape, via taxi and train, but continues to postpone these arrangements to spend another few knee-punishing, downpour-drenched hours with Michael, who inwardly delights in every delay. They book their nights at a series of hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and linoleum-infested rooms above pubs, the sort of blandly depressing lodgings where “you might stay the night before a relative’s funeral.”

Nicholls manipulates the action with a farceur’s finesse, amping up the sexual heat only to have it thwarted by an inopportune text, lumpy twin beds or a landlady’s prim insistence on “no guests after 10, please!” Marnie and Michael keep ordering champagne, almost falling into each other’s arms and verging on passionate candor without quite crossing the finish line. And rather than growing foot-tappingly frustrating, this almost-but-not-quite gamesmanship becomes delicious, because each is such good company for the other and for the reader.

There are tickling digressions along the way, as when Nicholls encapsulates the joys and irritations of Michael’s job: “He was well liked as a teacher, more than he knew, although he could no longer pull off the larky irreverence required to be adored.” On Marnie, working to copy-edit the “opening orgy” in the manuscript of an absurdly pornographic saga called “Twisted Night,” he writes: “So disorienting was the action that she had to make notes on her napkin to establish everyone’s whereabouts, a complex web of arrows and initials, like a diagram of the Battle of Austerlitz.”

Nicholls builds his own erotic and at times wrenchingly emotional suspense as the would-be lovers reveal past mishaps and surrendered dreams, both imagining themselves to be hopelessly damaged and undesirable. They force themselves to listen to each other’s playlists, a nightmarish test of compatibility. And they share recaps of their capsized marriages; the self-protectively clever Marnie initially makes her recounting too entertainingly glib, almost a standup routine, while Michael hoards his most painful memories, collecting pebbles along the walk to convince himself that he’s still functional, not “cracked and vulnerable, like a cup with a glued-on handle.”

Nicholls is rightfully attached to his central couple and their baggage of cherished neuroses, until he accepts that he has to decide on a happy ending or something more bittersweet, and how to earn either. He succeeds beautifully. Nicholls’s dialogue is flawless (he’s also an experienced screenwriter) and even his descriptions of bogs and muck can enchant. The novel is sharp-tongued and irresistible, the most intelligent treat.

And while I’d never want to trek through so much wooded British acreage, or get so poundingly hung over after sweaty, fragrant pub crawls, “You Are Here” makes its woebegone adventures feel consistently festive and heartbreaking. As my mother always told me, “A little fresh air won’t kill you.” And as I reliably replied, “You don’t know that.”

YOU ARE HERE | By David Nicholls | Harper | 368 pp. | $30

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged .

Don DeLillo’s fascination with terrorism, cults and mass culture’s weirder turns has given his work a prophetic air. Here are his essential books .

Jenny Erpenbeck’s “ Kairos ,” a novel about a torrid love affair in the final years of East Germany, won the International Booker Prize , the renowned award for fiction translated into English.

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

A charming look at a reader’s many moods

Elisa Gabbert’s essays in “Any Person Is the Only Self” are brimming with pleasure and curiosity about a life with books.

Tell people you read and write for a living, and they picture a ghostly creature, an idea only incidentally appended to a body. What they often fail to understand is that the life of the mind is also a physical life — a life spent lugging irksomely heavy volumes around on the Metro and annotating their margins with a cramping hand. The poet, essayist and New York Times poetry columnist Elisa Gabbert is rare in grasping that reading is, in addition to a mental exercise, a movement performed in a particular place.

“If I remember anything about a book, I also remember where I read it — what room, what chair,” she writes in her charming new essay collection, “ Any Person Is the Only Self .” Writing, too, proves spatial: “I think essays, like buildings, need structure and mood. The first paragraph should function as a foyer or an antechamber, bringing you into the mood.”

The 16 delightfully digressive pieces in this collection are all moods that involve books in one way or another. But they are not just about the content of books, although they are about that, too: They are primarily about the acts of reading and writing, which are as much social and corporeal as cerebral.

In the first essay — the foyer — Gabbert writes about the shelf of newly returned books at her local library. “The books on that shelf weren’t being marketed to me,” she writes. “They weren’t omnipresent in my social media feeds. They were very often old and very often ugly. I came to think of that shelf as an escape from hype.” The haphazard selections on the shelf were also evidence of other people — the sort of invisible but palpable community of readers that she came to miss so sharply during the pandemic.

In another essay, she learns of a previously unpublished story by one of her favorite authors, Sylvia Plath, who makes frequent appearances throughout this book. Fearing that the story will disappoint her, Gabbert puts off reading it. As she waits, she grows “apprehensive, even frightened.”

There are writers who attempt to excise themselves from their writing, to foster an illusion of objectivity; thankfully, Gabbert is not one of them. On the contrary, her writing is full of intimacies, and her book is a work of embodied and experiential criticism, a record of its author’s shifting relationships with the literature that defines her life. In one piece, she rereads and reappraises books she first read as a teenager; in another, she and her friends form a “Stupid Classics Book Club,” to tackle “all the corny stuff from the canon that we really should have read in school but never had.”

Gabbert is a master of mood, not polemic, and accordingly, her writing is not didactic; her essays revolve around images and recollections rather than arguments. In place of the analytic pleasures of a robustly defended thesis, we find the fresh thrills of a poet’s perfected phrases and startling observations. “Parties are about the collective gaze, the ability to be seen from all angles, panoramically,” she writes in an essay about fictional depictions of parties. She describes the photos in a book by Rachael Ray documenting home-cooked meals — one of the volumes on the recently returned shelf — as “poignantly mediocre.” Remarking on a listicle of “Books to Read by Living Women (Instead of These 10 by Dead Men),” Gabbert wonders, “Since when is it poor form to die?”

“Any Person Is the Only Self” is both funny and serious, a winning melee of high and low cultural references, as packed with unexpected treasures as a crowded antique shop. An academic text on architecture, the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, a rare memory disorder whose victims recall every aspect of their autobiographies in excruciatingly minute detail, “Madame Bovary,” YouTube videos about people who work as professional cuddlers, a psychological study about whether it is possible to be sane in an insane asylum — all these feature in Gabbert’s exuberant essays. She is a fiercely democratic thinker, incapable of snobbery and brimming with curiosity.

Perhaps because she is so indefatigably interested, she gravitates toward writers who see literature as a means of doubling life, allowing it to hold twice as much. Plath confessed in her journals that she wrote in an attempt to extend her biography beyond its biological terminus: “My life, I feel, will not be lived until there are books and stories which relive it perpetually in time.” The very act of keeping a diary, then, splits the self in two.

Plath once insisted that bad things could never happen to her and her peers because “we’re different.” Gabbert asks “Different why?” and concludes that everyone is different: “We are we , not them. Any person is the only self.” But that “only” is, perhaps counterintuitively, not constrained or constricted. Walt Whitman famously wrote that his only self comprised “multitudes,” and Gabbert echoes him when she reflects, “If there is no one self, you can never be yourself, only one of your selves.” And indeed, she is loath to elevate any of her many selves over any of the others. When she rereads a book that she loved in her adolescence, she thinks she was right to love it back then. “That self only knew what she knew,” she writes. “That self wasn’t wrong .” Both her past self and her present self have an equal claim to being Elisa Gabbert, who is too fascinated by the world’s manifold riches to confine herself to a single, limited life.

Becca Rothfeld is the nonfiction book critic for The Washington Post and the author of “All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess.”

Any Person Is the Only Self

By Elisa Gabbert

FSG Originals. 230 pp. $18, paperback.

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