Matilda by Roald Dahl

There are many childhood classics that I somehow missed reading during my childhood. It’s easy to understand because I didn’t have anyone to help guide and nurture my reading. Of course, I have no problem with reading children’s books as an adult, so I am always quick to remedy the situation. Matilda is one of those books that I haven’t read. Yes, I saw and LOVED the movie, but I never thought of the book. Well, I saw the movie again a few weeks ago. I got the book from the library and started to read. Roald Dahl’s story is very heartwarming. Matilda is a little girl who really doesn’t fit into her family. She is very smart. Matilda loves to read. Her family loves to watch mindless television. Matilda doesn’t like it when her father or mother do things to demean her, so Matilda gets back by pulling pranks, like putting hair bleach in her father’s hair tonic and hiding a talking parrot in the chimney so her parents think the house is haunted. When Matilda goes to school, she meets a kindred spirit in Miss Honey, but she also meets her arch-enemy, Miss Trunchbull. Miss Honey realizes that Matilda is something special,and she tries to get others to see Matilda’s worth. Instead, Miss Honey runs into roadblocks. Matilda’s biggest problem is the Trunchbull, who terrorizes all the children. When the Trunchbull starts to terrorize the kids in Matilda’s class, Matilda finds out that she has the power to make a glass of water tip over with energy from her eyes. She tells Miss Honey about her powers, and Miss Honey tells Matilda how her mother’s sister cheated Miss Honey out of her home and money, and possibly even murdered her father. Well, Matilda practices her powers, and when the Trunchbull shows up to terrorize the class, Matilda is ready for her. The story has a great ending with Matilda and MIss Honey living happily ever after. It is such a heart warming story!

I really loved reading the book, and I could see some of my childhood experiences in the book. My parents and brother did not read. They didn’t understand how I loved to read. The difference is that my parents took me to the library, and even though they didn’t understand it, they let me read. When I was six, my father gave me a dictionary so I could understand all the words inTom Sawyer. If you ever feel a bit down in the dumps, or needing some cheering up, I would strong recommend reading Matilda. Timeless, classic stories aren’t defined by the age of the reader; they are defined by the experience the reader gets from the story.