Science Fiction & Fantasy
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![Roald DahlQuentin Blake - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_roald_dahlquentin_blake.jpg)
Matilda
From the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG!
Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!"Matilda will surely go straight to children's hearts." -The New York Times Book Review
Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!"Matilda will surely go straight to children's hearts." -The New York Times Book Review
Readers Top Reviews
nafpakAlan
My granddaughter asked me to read her a story at bedtime. She chose a story from this book. I’d never read it and, before I knew it, I was reading chapter after chapter. Never got to the end though as I was due to go home so I ordered a kindle one for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Araminta Crooknaf
gets me to sleep sod the kids. I get insomnia and usually have to take more meds but listening to this and others like it with my kids and pop im off. The kids too.
APKTullilyKaveman
I don’t know why teachers would recommend this book for 8-12. That aside it may be Ok for a HS kid or older, but that’s up to the individual parent. The characters are outlandish and the protagonist has an innate darkness in her as well… such as the sociopathic pranks she plays on her father with pure peroxide. The fathers attitude even for a mysogenist criminal is incredibly dated like depression era possibly, not the 80s. The graphic description of the physical abuse outside of an Archie Comic book format could be terrifying. I found everything overly hyperbolized from Matilda’s ability, her relationship with the teacher, and the very dark story that a teacher shares with a 5 year old. Yes there are moments when Matilda as an adult intellect inside a child gets frustrated but her tantrums are disproportionate, and there are ways to punish the abusive parent without glorifying it. I’m reviewing this from the impressions I’ve attained having worked with children of various ages and socio-economic backgrounds and it’s simply not appropriate for younger than 15 unless it’s heavily animated.
JessicaAPKTullily
The book was good, but Roald Dahl has a certain nastiness that I would have appreciated as a young child who felt abused by the world but that I can't appreciate as an adult who has gotten over those issues. I read this for myself because sometimes I get tired of the depressing genre in adult books. However, if I had a child, while I would allow them to read this book--I would probably discuss some things with them to make sure they understand that some of the things in the book are inappropriate. For instance, in the book, Matilda shoves a parrot up a chimney to play a prank on her parents. Aside from her being disrespectful of her friend's property (the bird belonged to her friend), this would be out right animal cruelty that could result in an animal being harmed, or at the very least distressed.
HeyItsMeShanieJes
My daughter and I read this book together as part of her homeschool curriculum. It was interested because she noted what she thought were several spelling errors. I had to tell her that there are two forms of English. Anyway, the storyline was quite amusing. The book made me chuckle from beginning to end.I think I really loved how the main character's happy ending didn't come in the predictable form of her parents learning their lesson. I find myself using Matilda as a way to encourage my own daughter to read by pointing out to her how Matilda became extremely super intelligent by reading tons of books. This is definitely a book that the whole family can enjoy. After reading the book we watched the movie and did a comparison analysis as well.
Short Excerpt Teaser
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
The BFG
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
Esio Trot
Fantastic Mr. Fox
George's Marvelous Medicine
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Going Solo
James and the Giant Peach
The Magic Finger
Matilda
The Minpins
Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
The Twits
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
The Witches
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
Roald
Dahl
Matilda
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 Ghost
Arithmetic
The Platinum-Blond Man
Miss Honey
The Trunchbull
The Parents
Throwing the Hammer
Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
Lavender
The Weekly Test
The First Miracle
The Second Miracle
Miss Honey's Cottage
Miss Honey's Story
The Names
The Practice
The Third Miracle
A New Home
The Reader of Books
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 c...
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
The BFG
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
Esio Trot
Fantastic Mr. Fox
George's Marvelous Medicine
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Going Solo
James and the Giant Peach
The Magic Finger
Matilda
The Minpins
Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
The Twits
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
The Witches
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
Roald
Dahl
Matilda
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 Ghost
Arithmetic
The Platinum-Blond Man
Miss Honey
The Trunchbull
The Parents
Throwing the Hammer
Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
Lavender
The Weekly Test
The First Miracle
The Second Miracle
Miss Honey's Cottage
Miss Honey's Story
The Names
The Practice
The Third Miracle
A New Home
The Reader of Books
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 c...
