I talked about the Matilda characters in this video.


In a video I posted about my January reads, I discussed a little about the magic of re-reading, specifically Jane Eyre. In the comments, there was a small discussion about books we wish we'd read earlier in life and this, my first Roald Dahl book ever, certainly falls into that category. I wish I'd read this and loved this as a child.

Even just being familiar with the popular film, I was taken aback by how uncomfortable the story made me. Here, at the surface is the story of a precocious and gifted child. However, it plays on the background of incredible neglect and child abuse. It's all told so casually and purposefully so. There were times I had to pause in my reading to really ingest what was happening.

It's a deceptively light book with a proper happy ending and one I imagine could strike so many different threads of conversations: absentee parenting, the value of reading and learning, LISTENING TO CHILDREN AND BELIEVING THEM, treating children as right people, speaking up in the face of abuse and so much more.