Matilda

Now a musical on broadway and streaming on Netflix!

Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a menacing, kid-hating headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!

Here is Roald Dahl's original novel of a little girl with extraordinary powers. This much-loved story has recently been made into a wonderful new musical, adapted by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin.

Leseprobe:

The Trunchbull let out a yell. . .

The Trunchbull lifted the water-jug and poured some water into her glass. And suddenly, with the water, out came the long slimy newt straight into the glass, plop!

The Trunchbull let out a yell and leapt off her chair as though a firecracker had gone off underneath her.

She stared at the creature twisting and wriggling in the glass. The fires of fury and hatred were smouldering in the Trunchbull s small black eyes.

Matilda! she barked. Stand up!

Who, me? Matilda said. What have I done?

Stand up, you disgusting little cockroach! You filthy little maggot! You are a vile, repellent, malicious little brute! The Trunchbull was shouting. You are not fit to be in this school! You ought to be behind bars, that s where you ought to be! I shall have the prefects chase you down the corridor and out of the front-door with hockey-sticks!

The Trunchbull was in such a rage that her face had taken on a boiled colour and little flecks of froth were gathering at the corners of her mouth. But Matilda was also beginning to see red. She had had absolutely nothing to do with the beastly creature in the glass. By golly, she thought, that rotten Trunchbull isn t going to pin this one on me!

Puffin Books by Roald Dahl

The BFG

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Danny the Champion of the World

Dirty Beasts

The Enormous Crocodile

Esio Trot

Fantastic Mr. Fox

George s Marvelous Medicine

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Going Solo

James and the Giant Peach

The Magic Finger

Matilda

The Minpins

Roald Dahl s Revolting Rhymes

The Twits

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

The Witches

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

Roald
Dahl

Matilda

illustrated by Que ntin Blake

PUFFIN BOOKS

For Michael and Lucy

The Reader of Books

Mr Wormwood, the Great Car Dealer

The Hat and the Superglue

The Ghost

Arithmetic

The Platinum-Blond Man

Miss Honey

The Trunchbull

The Parents

Throwing the Hammer

Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake

Lavender

The Weekly Test

The First Miracle

The Second Miracle

Miss Honey s Cottage

Miss Honey s Story

The Names

The Practice

The Third Miracle

A New Home

The Reader of Books

It s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.

Some parents go further. They become so blinded by adoration they manage to convince themselves their child has qualities of genius.

Well, there is nothing very wrong with all this. It s the way of the world. It is only when the parents begin telling us about the brilliance of their own revolting offspring, that we start shouting, Bring us a basin! We re going to be sick!

School teachers suffer a good deal from having to listen to this sort of twaddle from proud parents, but they usually get their own back when the time comes to write the end-of-term reports. If I were a teacher I would cook up some real scorchers for the children of doting parents. Your son Maximilian , I would write, is a total wash-out. I hope you have a family business you can push him into when he leaves school because he sure as heck won t get a job anywhere else. Or if I were feeling