Matilda: Roald Dahl - Softcover

Dahl, Roald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141365463 ISBN 13: 9780141365466

Publisher: Puffin, 2016

Synopsis

"A true genius . . . Roald Dahl is my hero" - David Walliams

"So Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

Matilda is the world's most famous bookworm, no thanks to her ghastly parents.

Her father thinks she's a little scab. Her mother spends all afternoon playing bingo.

And her headmistress, Miss Trunchbull?

She's the worst of all.

She's a big bully, who thinks all her pupils are rotten and locks them in the dreaded Chokey.

Despite these beastly grownups trying to push her down, Matilda is an extraordinary girl with a magical mind.

And she's had enough.

So all the terrible adults had better watch out, because she's going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget!

Now you can listen to MATILDA and other Roald Dahl audiobooks read by some very famous voices, including Kate Winslet, David Walliams and Steven Fry - plus there are added squelchy soundeffects from Pinewood Studios!

About this title

Review:

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centred parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school mistress, Mrs ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer- throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience and an innate talent for revenge.

She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defence of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable--the big surprise comes when Matilda discovers a new, mysterious facet of her mental dexterity. Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The truly reader cares about Matilda because, in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.

Review:

"The undisputed master-storyteller . . . Artful, funny, profoundly inventive and touched with the blessed knowledge of how to tap the basest in a child's nature and lead it towards the best" (Daily Mail)

"Roald Dahl invented a new kind of literature for children full of the awful and gross - an exagerration of the everyday underpinned by serious observations about our best and worst inclinations" (Waterstones Books Quarterly)

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0141365463
• ISBN 13: 9780141365466
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Illustrator: Blake Quentin