Parent reviews for Matilda (2025)

Is this book dark? Yes. Is it a bit scary? Yes. Is it for everyone? No. However, no book is for everyone, and some reviewers on here are making it sound as if this book is a manifesto for children to be horrid and immoral. It is NOT. Matilda is a little girl who is a genius and has an evil headmistress and horrid parents who if real would be abusive (they leave her alone at home, call her names, set a bad example, etc.). However, Matilda does not let this stop her. A lot of people are saying Matilda only is saved by her powers. In the end, she overcomes a final obstacle by her powers. But, she uses her own cleverness and strength to overcome obstacles before then. She glues her fathers hat to his hair, scares her parents into thinking a talking parrot is a ghost, encourages and supports a classmate who is being bullied by their headmistress, and helps her teacher find strength. Matilda is not a cheery, happy Disney strong, but it is so much better because it helps children learn that, even though the world can be very dark and scary, there can be light by looking to strength inside. Children know magic is not real. Children know there is darkness in the world because they see it even from a young age, but I think this book provides a fun and cool way to teach them about how to find power and strength within themselves. Roald Dahl is known for being quite dark, but I like his writing because it knows how smart and clever children are. That is why I love the fact Matilda is 5 and reading Charles Dickens. Kids today need that.

The book is about a girl that is very smart and she has magic power. She can move things with her eyes! I liked Matilda because she is smart and she used her magic powers to scare away the mean principal, Ms. Trunchbull. One thing I didn't like was when the principal yelled at Matilda when Matilda didn't do anything. My favorite part of the book was when the principal was never to be seen again.

My kids read and loved this book in elementary, and now I'm reading it with rising 3rd graders in a book club, and it's perfect. The members are all avid readers, and they are so excited to talk about it every day. If you have seen or read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you know Dahl can give us some mean adults, but they're cartoonish, and the 7-year-olds all see it. This is about the extraordinarily clever and resourceful little girl's satisfying revenge against venal and stupid and mean people. Somehow, when they read lines from the book, I never hear them praising the mean people. It's as if 7-year-olds have some internal moral compass that interacts with the book so that they don't copy the mean people.

This story is about a girl called Matilda. Her family is totally different to young Matilda here she is smart and in her family she's a total outcast. She is left alone for her toddler stage and childhood and is a self taught genius.Matilda has a secret power that I wont spoil. She is so smart she learnt how to get to the library herself. when she is sent to school she meets her enemy that I won't spoil the movie any more.Their are some of bad scenes like abuse if you have a child that isn't responsible it would be bad to watch it with them

There are some pretty strong scenes in this book, but my son age 6 was able to keep up with them and wasn’t too scared or scarred by any of them. I must say I wasn’t such a fan of this. It seems it has a very long preamble and preface and then it all happens too quickly in the last few chapters.

you need to read this

As long as parents censor the mild, sporadic profanity, or at the very least talk to their child about why they shouldn't use such words, this story is perfectly suitable for children. Parents should also be aware of their child's maturity level. Can they handle topics like abuse? If so, "Matilda" is a great story that encourages children to develop their intelligence.

Review from Gargi:Matilda is a brilliant story of a girl.Excellent example for children who just watch TV as the girl proved that without Television one can explore more things in life

Emi B. Parent of 9 and 9-year-old

My turning-9 daughters and I loved Matilda with her preternatural intelligence and powers! Enjoying such a kick-ass female juvenile main character is awesome, except for how it makes us realize how much of an exception that is than the rule. Anyways, Roald Dahl is our favorite, we are so thankful for his prolificacy.