BOOK CLUB: MATILDA BY ROALD DAHL.


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Book blog day boo yah. As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on the book Matilda by Roald Dahl.

In a small Buckinghamshire village, Matilda Wormwood, a five-and-half-year-old girl of unusual precocity, whose parents treat her with disdain, resorts to pranks like gluing her father's hat to his head, hiding a friend's parrot in the chimney to simulate a burglar or ghost, and secretly bleaching her father's hair, to get revenge on her parents (particularly her father) for being so mean to her. Matilda has read a variety of books by different authors, especially at the age of four, when she read many in six months.
At school, Matilda makes friends with her teacher, Jennifer Honey, who is astonished by Matilda's intellectual abilities. She tries to move her into a higher class but is refused by the headmistress, the tyrannical Miss Agatha Trunchbull Miss Honey also tries to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood about Matilda's intelligence, but they ignore her.
Matilda quickly develops a particularly strong bond with Miss Honey and watches as Miss Trunchbull terrorizes her students with deliberately creative, over-the-top punishments to prevent parents from believing them. When Matilda's friend, Lavender, plays a practical joke on Miss Trunchbull by placing a Newt in her jug of water, Matilda uses an unexpected power of Telekinesis to tip the glass of water containing the newt onto Miss Trunchbull.
After Matilda reveals her powers to Miss Honey, Miss Honey confides that she was raised by an abusive aunt after the suspicious death of her father. Her aunt is revealed to be Miss Trunchbull, who appears (among other misdeeds) to be withholding her niece's inheritance so that Miss Honey has to live in poverty in a derelict farm cottage. Preparing to avenge Miss Honey, Matilda develops her telekinetic gift through practice at home. Later, during a sadistic lesson that Miss Trunchbull is teaching, Matilda telekinetically raises a piece of chalk to the blackboard and writes on it, posing as the spirit of Miss Honey's late father and demanding that Miss Trunchbull hand over Miss Honey's house and wages and leave the region forever.
This is soon done, and a short while later the school's deputy head teacher, Mr. Trilby, visits Miss Trunchbull's house but finds it empty with no sign of her next destination. As Mr. Trilby becomes the new head of the school, he proves himself to be capable and good-natured, with the result that Matilda herself advances to the highest level of schooling. Rather to her relief, she is no longer capable of telekinesis; this is explained by Miss Honey as the result of using her mind on a more challenging curriculum. Matilda continues to visit Miss Honey at her house regularly, but one day finds her parents and her older brother Michael hastily packing to escape from the police, who are after her father for selling stolen cars. Matilda asks permission to live with Miss Honey, to which her parents rather uninterestedly agree (her mother somehow finally understanding Matilda's bond for her teacher). So both she and Miss Honey find their happy ending, and the school's atmosphere and curriculum have overwhelmingly improved under Mr. Trilby.
- Matilda (Novel) Wiki

Matilda is the only Roald Dahl book I've consistently read since childhood, nostalgia kick or not. I saw something of myself on Matilda and wanted to have some form of skill in Telekinesis at some point. I believe that all children who love to read and can be rather creative tend to associate with Matilda herself. Seeing Matilda use her intelligence and triumph over the buying adults in her life definitely shows there's always a way and it can be dealt with. I love this book and I highly recommend to families with children (6-12) and those who are children at heart and I give the book a 9/10.

Matilda became a movie and was released on August 2nd 1996 with Danny Devito being both Director and Mr Wormwood. Mara Wilson being Matilda was a great call, she was brilliant and did the character of Matilda justice, Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull was a hoot as well. Despite the movie not being 100% faithful to the book it still was good to watch. The movie holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and won three of the six awards it was put up for (YoungStar award for best young actress award plus The Cinekid Lion Audience Award and Oulu International children's film festival Starboy award for Best Director). I genuinely love this movie it is in my top ten, I highly recommend this movie to everyone and personally give it a 8/10.

Matilda became a musical in 2010 with Australian comedian/musician Tim Minchin as the Lyricist/music writer, I've yet to see the musical in full but have seen several clips of songs on both TV and on YouTube and have heard the full music CD via Itunes. I definitely recommend everyone especially musical enthusiasts to see the musical as and when you can. At this moment in time I cant really give it a rating since I've not seen it in full.

Roald Dahl 13 September 1916– 23 November 1990 was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.
Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, and he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the British Books Awards Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His books champion the kind hearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment. His works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine. His adult works include Tales of the unexpected.
  • Roald Dahl wiki
I have a lot of respect for Mr Dahl both for the life he lived, his military service and the literary GENIUS he had become, Mr Dahl is one of the best if not the best known for fantastic children's books. I have over the course of my life watched several of the movies of his books, all the extras and every documentary of Roald Dahl that I could get my hands on. Mr Dahl is one of my Heroes and I wish I could have met the man though Mr Dahl died 4 months after I was born.  

WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:





And there you have it a decent book for those who So we'll be leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with others if you want or not Friday is random blog day and remember keep it sensible in the comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to the appropriate people.

THIS IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...

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