Matilda by Roald Dahl

Title: Matilda
Author: Roald Dahl
ISBN: 0-14-034294-x
240 pages
Puffin Books, 1990 edition

A popular young adult/tween title when I was a kid (as were most of Roald Dahl's books). 'Matilda' gained more widespread audience after it was converted into a popular children's film

Description:

Matilda is a young girl who is quite special and bright: only her family could not care less. Her father is an untrustworthy used-car salesman, her mother hangs out all day at the local bingo parlor and her brother is primed to follow in their parents' footsteps. Matilda is frequently scolded and bothered over the fact that she cannot simply 'watch the telly' and be quiet like the rest of her family. Soon Matilda finds a deep interest in books and spends her time in the local library devouring them in great quantities.

While her home life leaves much to be desired, Matilda also finds trouble at school. While her teacher, Ms. Honey, is a lovely woman whom Matilda admires greatly, the evil school principal Ms. Trunchbull is an awful woman who has been known to throw children out of windows by their pigtails (being a former Olympic hammer thrower) or worse. The Trunchbull, as the children throughout Matilda's school calls her, takes particular exception to Matilda, partially stemming from an unfortunate encounter between the Truchbull and Matilda's father. After receiving her fair share of her principle's punishment as well as watching the suffering of her fellow classmates, Matilda devises a plan to get rid of the Trunchbull once and for all.

Review:

In typical Roald Dahl fashion, 'Matilda' does well to mix adventure and humor all the while creating a story that speaks on a level that children will appreciate. Accompanied by some small, interspersed illustrations by Quentin Blake, 'Matilda' feels like its own universe, a place unique from other books for the same age group. Not too long (240 pages with illustrations and large font) or overly difficult in any way, yet 'Matilda' does not feel as though it has been watered down at all. Reading the book again as an adult, one easily gets swept up in Dahl's characters; the same way I expect most children do.