Shreejit Jha, a student of class six, shares this book review highlighting the magic, creativity, and inspiration behind Dahl’s timeless classic Matilda.

If you are a fan of Roald Dahl, you must read the story of ‘Matilda’. Roald Dahl was a very multi-talented character. He was a pilot, but after his retirement, he started writing books for children.

‘Matilda’ is one of his notable books. ‘Matilda’ is a book about a little girl called ‘Matilda Wormwood’. (Isn’t the surname of Matilda very funny?)

So, Matilda was a little girl (as I already said) who stayed with her parents, Mr. Harry Wormwood, her father, Ms. Zinnia Wormwood, her mother, and her elder brother, Michael Wormwood.

Matilda was a bright and gifted girl, but to her parents, she was nothing but a troublemaker. Matilda wanted to read books and felt books were her friends. But to her parents, books were of no use. So when there was no one at home, Matilda went to the library and spent hours reading all the books she could read.

Matilda finished reading all the children’s books in a very short while, and so she started reading other books written by great authors. Ms. Phelps, the librarian, was greatly impressed to find a little girl with such great interest in books at such a tender age.

This way time passed, and Matilda felt she had to gain more knowledge by going to school. When she proposed the idea to her parents, they started laughing as they felt she was too young to go to school. One day a miracle happened. Matilda almost accidentally found that she had magical powers in her eyes. She also noticed that she could solve complex mathematical problems of higher levels. And mind you, she was only four.

Then one day her parents decided to send her to school. Her class teacher, Miss Honey, soon found out about Matilda’s special ability and her gifted powers.

Miss Honey went to discuss Matilda’s special powers with the principal, Miss Trunchbull, who was less of a human and more of a bull metaphorically. Miss Trunchbull, who related to Miss Honey. She was her aunt.

But their characteristics were much different. While Miss Honey was kind and gentle, Miss Trunchbull was rude and vindictive. She treated the students like dirt and was a terror in the school. She even had a room where she used to punish the students, keeping them locked inside the whole day. The room was full of spikes and broken glass, and it was so small that there was no place to sit either. So the poor students had to stand there for the whole day.

Matilda was angry, so one day she tricked Miss Trunchbull to leave the house, which actually belonged to Miss Honey. This way, Miss Honey could get back to her house.

Now you must be wondering what the magic was, but for that, I suggest you read the book yourself, as that will charm you more than I am telling you, as this is where the climax of the book lies.

It was a beautiful afternoon when Matilda came to know that her parents were moving off to Spain forever. They decided never to return to England as the police were looking for Matilda’s father, who used to cheat people by selling used cars at exorbitant prices, and not just that he used to put sand dust inside to reduce the sound and make it look like a well-maintained car. But eventually, the car would break or the engine would come out.

Finding this as an opportunity, Matilda decided to stay with Miss Honey forever.

Many of my friends are fond of Raskin Bond and JK Rowling. They are considered to be the best writers for children. But I like Roald Dahl the most. I like Roald Dahl’s lucid language, his style of writing, and his fictional characters. Dahl’s style of writing attracts me a lot. And please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that Ruskin Bond is a bad writer, but I am just sharing my opinion with you.

When I start reading a book by Roald Dahl, I can’t stop reading. When I read his books, I feel some kind of magic going on inside me. I feel sad when my parents instruct me to stop. I say, “Mom, please let me read one last chapter.” But when I am forced to stop, I feel heartbroken. Someone can only have this kind of feeling while reading the books of the best authors.

Earlier, I could not read any book of more than 100 or 150 pages. If you ask the librarian of our school, ‘Sandipa miss’, she will agree with the statement. She will simply tell you that I always borrow books below 100 pages. I once borrowed a 150-page book called ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and I completed it. But now, for the first time, I have finished Matilda, a 358-page novel.

If you read the book, you will be able to learn one value—’Anyone is capable of doing anything’.

You will think, Why have I used this statement? As Matilda could read classic novels, she could solve problems of higher classes easily; we could also do these things. But when Matilda shows her brilliant talent to her father (MR. Wormwood), he literally does not believe in her and simply declares her a ‘cheater’ and starts shouting and chanting the word ‘cheater’ on her face.

I also learnt how to write beautifully. In the beginning, I could not write properly, but slowly, when I started reading books, I found that I could write better than before.

Friends, please read books! Reading books actually helps you imagine and makes you creative. When you try to write one story on your own, at the first attempt you will face some difficulties, but eventually, you start improving day by day and you will see that you are writing better than before! Yes, my dear friends, try it once, and you will see the changes in you.

There are many authors whose books you can read. There are Ruskin Bond, Agatha Christi, J.K. Rowling, and Sudha Murty.

I hope this book review helps you in writing and inspires you to read many books.

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