Metilda

Title: Metilda
Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher/Date: Penguin Group, 1988
Reading Level: 9-11
Pages: 140
Genre: Fantasy/Fiction

Summary: Matilda is a 5 1/2 year old girl who was born into a terrible family. Her father is mean and treats her  badly, and her mother ignores her. She finds ways to get back at her family for being so mean. She also sneaks away to the library where she spends most of her time reading and enjoying being away from her family. Then she goes to school and meets her wonderful teacher Ms. Honey. She also meets the terrible headmaster Ms. Trenchibull. She is the meanest most awful person. She terrorizes the students and loves to punish them in strange ways. Matilda is so smart that Ms. Honey wants her to move into a more challenging class but Ms. Trenchibull wont have it. Matilda is frustrated with school and home life and soon discovers that she has special powers. The power to move objects with her mind. She takes this skill to school to teach Ms. Trunchibull a lesson. She plays a trick on her and Ms. Trunchibull takes her anger out of the other students and Ms. Honey. So Matilda comes up with the ultimate trick to get rid of the head master. She makes it seem like Ms. Trunchibull's dead brother is talking to her from the dead telling her to give Ms. Honey (who turns out to be Ms. Trunchibulls niece) everything she deserves. The headmaster gets so scared she runs away never to be seen or heard from again. Then Matilda's father gets in trouble with the law and tells the family they are moving away. Matilda and Ms. Honey don't want to move away from each other so she adopts Matilda! And Matilda finally gets moved into a higher level class and is no longer frustrated so she finds her powers go away since she doesn't need them. and Ms. Honey and Matilda live happily ever after.

Reaction: I really enjoyed this book.  It kept me involved and interested throughout the whole book.  I thought that it had a good moral and could give people in abused situations hope for a better life in the future.

Potential Problems: This book contains some bad words that some people may find offensive.  Some children may not be able to comprehend how awful Metilda's life is because they may not have ever experienced anyone treating them badly.  They may also become scared of their principle.

Recommendations: I really think that children should read this book.  It has a good moral and can teach children that there are ways out of bad situations even if they don't have special powers.