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