Matilda
By Roald Dahl
Matilda is an extraordinary girl from a ridiculous family.
It may sound simplistic but as we read we find out that Matilda is a non-entity
to her parents and that she has self-taught herself everything (from how to
walk to how to read) and that her fondest wish is to attend school. Upon
starting at school she meets the horrific headmistress “The Trunchbull” and her
lovely teacher “Miss Honey” who turns out to be a kindred spirit. The book
follows Matilda as she journeys to rid the school and her teacher of the
dreaded Trunchbull and to teach her thoughtless parents a lesson or two.
The book is written in Roald Dahl’s usual whimsical style
and playful language. The narrator (omniscient in nature) swaps from a third person view
to a personal one and even to other character’s views in order to show Matilda’s
thoughts, feelings and experiences. The quest returns as a plot once again
(seemingly a regular occurrence in the children’s fiction I have read) and we
are also privy to the extremes of teacher stereotyping (e.g. The Trunchbull as
the bad and Miss Honey as the good).
You could use this book in the classroom in a variety of
ways. As a shared reading experience with the learners or even have the learner’s
write their own continuation of the story (after the end). If you really want
to extend the students’ thinking you could get them to discuss what makes a
good or a bad teacher and what does it mean to be good or bad, which could lead
on to multiple other activities and learning.
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