Matilda by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

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Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Miss ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defense of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable. Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The reader cares about Matilda because in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.

Matilda is a really quick read and entertaining to boot! I thought that the book was really fun and the characters were quirky. I especially loved Matilda because she was much more spunky in the book than she was in the movie. I couldn't help but compare the two as I read it. I feel like this isn't really a case of one being better than the other but rather that they each had pros and cons to them. I enjoyed the English touch to the book that you don't get by watching the Americanized movie. I thought that the book was well paced until the ending. It seemed a bit rushed to me. In the movie, the audience is given background and is in on what has been happening whereas in the book the reader would have no clue other than assuming something might go wrong which would lead to the events at the end of the book. Overall, I enjoyed the story as well as the illustrations and I would read it again!