A former Olympic hammer thrower, Trunchbull has a knack for lifting up children who annoy her and throwing them through windows or over fences. The headmistress, Miss Trunchbull is powerfully built and mean to the children, whom she despises. She tries to convince Matilda’s parents to take seriously their child’s brilliance, but the Wormwoods dismiss the idea. Matilda enters Crunchem Hall Primary School, where her teacher is the kind and lovely Miss Honey, who quickly recognizes Matilda’s genius and gives her advanced schoolwork. She switches her mother’s platinum hair dye with her father’s hair lotion, causing him to convert his hair from black to ashy white. She borrows a neighbor’s parrot and positions the caged bird in the chimney when the parrot speaks during dinner, it terrifies her parents, who believe it’s a burglar or a ghost. She puts superglue into her father’s porkpie hat, and it takes him a day to get it removed, along with a lot of his hair. Both parents are self-important and small-minded they regard their daughter as an annoyance, and they treat her rudely. Matilda’s mother spends afternoons playing Bingo and evenings watching TV. Her father, Harry Wormwood, dresses garishly and sells run-down used cars faked-up as nearly new he proudly teaches his young son, Michael, the fine points of cheating customers. Her parents have no interest in books and think Matilda’s wasting her time. Matilda also has a knack for math and can do arithmetic in her head. Often left alone at home by her neglectful, self-involved parents, Matilda Wormwood teaches herself to read at age three by age five, she’s read all the children’s books at the local library and more than a dozen adult classics like Great Expectations and The Grapes of Wrath. The 2007 Penguin edition includes illustrations by Quentin Blake its ebook version forms the basis for this study guide. Many of Dahl’s tales, including Matilda, have been made into feature films. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide they include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and The Fantastic Mr. Dahl is widely considered one the greatest children’s storytellers.

Matilda book