Matilda is a story of an independent and brilliant young heroine who uses brain power to stand up to the villainous adults in her life. I chose to feature this book because it reminds readers of the power they gain through knowledge but doesn’t fail to make them laugh along the way. Roald Dahl is an author I hope to introduce to my future students as his books helped me realize how much I love to read.
Just to give you a taste of what Matilda is all about, here’s a snippet from the first chapter :
“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 tellingus about the brilliance of their own revolting offspring, that we start shouting, ‘Bring us a basin! We’re going to be sick!’ 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 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 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 extraordinary, and by that I mean sensitive and brilliant. Matilda was both of these things, but above all she was brilliant.”
