Matilda was written by Roald Dahl and published in 1988. It tells the story of a clever, young girl named Matilda Wormwood. She loves to read, but her parents, who pay hardly any attention to her, cannot understand her interest in books, and tell her that she should watch television instead. Matilda visits the library regularly, reading books by many famous authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling.
Matilda’s cleverness becomes apparent when she manages to quickly answer a maths problem that Mr Wormwood gives her brother. After she answers, Mr Wormwood tells her that she cheated. After that, Matilda begins to play a series of tricks on Mr Wormwood, including placing superglue in his hat, scaring him when he rips up a book she is reading and tricking him into using peroxide so that his hair turns a different colour.
Matilda attends school, where it becomes noticeable how clever she is. Her teacher, Miss Honey, thinks that it would be a good idea for Matilda to be moved up as she believes Matilda is too clever to be in her class. She tells this to the unpleasant headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, who immediately disagrees. Later, Miss Honey tells Matilda’s parents that she believes that Matilda will be clever enough to attend university in just a few years, but is shocked at their lack of interest in their daughter.
Miss Trunchbull mistreats the children at Matilda’s school, and punishes them by placing them in "the chokey", which is a small cupboard type contraption filled with unpleasant objects. She also forces an overweight boy named Bruce Bogtrotter to eat a large cake in one go after he stole a piece of her cake.
Meanwhile, Matilda’s father is running a car company that sells stolen cars to customers. He sells one to Miss Trunchbull and warns her that Matilda is trouble. Later, when she discovers that the car does not work properly, she gets angry at Matilda.
Throughout the story, Matilda moves a number of objects using her mind. She later discovers that she has telekinetic powers and tells this to Miss Honey. She demonstrates her powers by making a glass fall over. She then goes with Miss Honey to Miss Honey’s home. Matilda sees that Miss Honey is living in poor conditions in a tiny cottage. Miss Honeys explains the reasons behind why she is living like this, saying that her mother died when she was very young, leaving her father, Magnus, to look after her. Her father, who was a doctor, was very busy and as a result asked his wife’s stepsister to stay at the house so that she could help out. Matilda discovers that the stepsister is actually Miss Trunchbull. Miss Honey explains that Miss Trunchbull would mistreat her whenever Magnus was not around. When Miss Honey was just five years old, her father died. She tells Matilda that the police believe it was suicide, but it is likely that Miss Trunchbull caused his death.
Miss Honey then goes on to explain that after her father died, her aunt Trunchbull continued to mistreat her, making her a slave and preventing her from attending university. Instead, she was allowed to attend a teachers’ training college. She eventually found work, but her aunt Trunchbull forced her to give her nearly all of her earnings. She allowed Miss Honey to keep just one pound a week and Miss Honey eventually broke free when she found the tiny cottage and rented it from a farmer for just tem pence a week.
Matilda thinks up a plan to get rid of Miss Trunchbull and later uses her telekinesis to scare Miss Trunchbull by using a piece of chalk to write a message that appears to be from Magnus. The message tells Miss Trunchbull to leave Miss Honey alone and to return the house and inheritance money that Miss Trunchbull took. Miss Trunchbull faints and does not return to the school the following day. Miss Honey becomes the rightful owner of Magnus’s house after discovering his will.
Matilda is then moved to the top form in her school, but loses her telekinetic powers. Later, Mr Wormwood gets into trouble with the police for selling the stolen cars and announces that the family will be moving to Spain. Matilda wishes to remain with Miss Honey and asks her parents if she can stay behind. They agree, leaving Matilda to live happily with Miss Honey.
Matilda’s cleverness becomes apparent when she manages to quickly answer a maths problem that Mr Wormwood gives her brother. After she answers, Mr Wormwood tells her that she cheated. After that, Matilda begins to play a series of tricks on Mr Wormwood, including placing superglue in his hat, scaring him when he rips up a book she is reading and tricking him into using peroxide so that his hair turns a different colour.
Matilda attends school, where it becomes noticeable how clever she is. Her teacher, Miss Honey, thinks that it would be a good idea for Matilda to be moved up as she believes Matilda is too clever to be in her class. She tells this to the unpleasant headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, who immediately disagrees. Later, Miss Honey tells Matilda’s parents that she believes that Matilda will be clever enough to attend university in just a few years, but is shocked at their lack of interest in their daughter.
Miss Trunchbull mistreats the children at Matilda’s school, and punishes them by placing them in "the chokey", which is a small cupboard type contraption filled with unpleasant objects. She also forces an overweight boy named Bruce Bogtrotter to eat a large cake in one go after he stole a piece of her cake.
Meanwhile, Matilda’s father is running a car company that sells stolen cars to customers. He sells one to Miss Trunchbull and warns her that Matilda is trouble. Later, when she discovers that the car does not work properly, she gets angry at Matilda.
Throughout the story, Matilda moves a number of objects using her mind. She later discovers that she has telekinetic powers and tells this to Miss Honey. She demonstrates her powers by making a glass fall over. She then goes with Miss Honey to Miss Honey’s home. Matilda sees that Miss Honey is living in poor conditions in a tiny cottage. Miss Honeys explains the reasons behind why she is living like this, saying that her mother died when she was very young, leaving her father, Magnus, to look after her. Her father, who was a doctor, was very busy and as a result asked his wife’s stepsister to stay at the house so that she could help out. Matilda discovers that the stepsister is actually Miss Trunchbull. Miss Honey explains that Miss Trunchbull would mistreat her whenever Magnus was not around. When Miss Honey was just five years old, her father died. She tells Matilda that the police believe it was suicide, but it is likely that Miss Trunchbull caused his death.
Miss Honey then goes on to explain that after her father died, her aunt Trunchbull continued to mistreat her, making her a slave and preventing her from attending university. Instead, she was allowed to attend a teachers’ training college. She eventually found work, but her aunt Trunchbull forced her to give her nearly all of her earnings. She allowed Miss Honey to keep just one pound a week and Miss Honey eventually broke free when she found the tiny cottage and rented it from a farmer for just tem pence a week.
Matilda thinks up a plan to get rid of Miss Trunchbull and later uses her telekinesis to scare Miss Trunchbull by using a piece of chalk to write a message that appears to be from Magnus. The message tells Miss Trunchbull to leave Miss Honey alone and to return the house and inheritance money that Miss Trunchbull took. Miss Trunchbull faints and does not return to the school the following day. Miss Honey becomes the rightful owner of Magnus’s house after discovering his will.
Matilda is then moved to the top form in her school, but loses her telekinetic powers. Later, Mr Wormwood gets into trouble with the police for selling the stolen cars and announces that the family will be moving to Spain. Matilda wishes to remain with Miss Honey and asks her parents if she can stay behind. They agree, leaving Matilda to live happily with Miss Honey.
