Kerry Smith

I really like Roald Dahl. I’ve read pretty much all of his books and was looking forward to a snuggle-read of Matilda with my nine-year-old son. At first the book was very clever and funny. A five-year-old outwits her awful parents. We thought the chapter where she put superglue in her dad’s hat was especially funny. But then the girl goes to school. And the headmistress is beyond horrid. Many pages talk about her and all her scary antics. Finally, my son said he didn’t want to read any more because it scared him. So I stopped reading it aloud to him but finished it by myself. It ends well enough and has a happy ending. So I was glad to have finally read it after all these years. But I don’t think it’s a good one to read to young children. My son hasn’t been exposed to traumatic situations and the story bothered him. I can’t even imagine reading this book to a class and having it upset a child who has been abused. To parents, definitely read this one first before attempting to read it to a young child. It’s disturbing in several places. Themes of violence and suicide mentioned.