Matilda

Roald Dahl

Mar 2003 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

The much-loved Roald Dahl story, updated for a whole new generation of readers with an exciting new interior design and cover look.

These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone.

Matilda is a brilliant child with a magical mind.

But her parents have decided she's just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories.

And her headmistress Miss Trunchbull is a terrible bully, who thinks children are rotten and awful and should be locked up.

Now it's time for Matilda to find the power to change her story, and show them just how extraordinary children can be . . .


The text in this edition of Matilda was updated in 2022 for young independent readers.

Ratings and reviews

Roald Dahl has a made a book so fantastic,it is called Matilda. Matilda has been around for many many years. If you dont believe? Imagine if you could magic powers. Think about what you could do. Think about what you did to save STUDENTS from the horrible trunchbull? Now its your turn.

One of Roald Dahl's most famous children's books. Matilda is a brilliant and sensitive child, but her parents think of her only as a nuisance. Even before she is five years old, she has read Dickens and Hemingway and still her parents think of her as a pest. So she decides to get back at them. Her platinum-haired mother and car salesman father are no match for her sharp genius, and neither is the cruel headmistress Miss Trunchbull. And then the child prodigy discovers she has an extraordinary psychic power that can save her school and especially the lovely kindergarten teacher, Miss Honey. This is one of the best books of Roald Dahl.

Writing is generally good. The plot is also good but rather short. The stories themes are fully realized but you don't notice this until the very end.

About the author

Roald Dahl (Author)
Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. He was also the author of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and many more brilliant stories. He remains THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE STORYTELLER.



Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
Quentin Blake has illustrated more than three hundred books and was Roald Dahl's favourite illustrator. In 1980 he won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. In 1999 he became the first ever Children's Laureate and in 2013 he was knighted for services to illustration.