Matilda was written by Roald Dahl, World War II fighter pilot and author of many other children’s books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
My own connection to Matilda comes from my 4th and 5th grade teacher, who read the book to us after lunch, used hilarious voices, and even had a Matilda doll (hello Mrs. Williams!).
Matilda Summary
Matilda is a profoundly gifted four-year-old growing up in an unsupportive home. We watch her discover the local library, read books well beyond her age, and eventually start kindergarten. The book offers up an assortment of adults who are either openly hostile towards Matilda or see the child’s potential and do their best to support her. Matilda eventually develops a superhuman ability as a result of her boredom at school.
As in his other books, Roald Dahl doesn’t pull punches. Kids in the story face absurdly awful situations. As a kid, I loved it. My classmates loved it. Thirty-something years later, I was a little taken aback. But I actually think this is what makes Dahl’s stories so popular with kids: he doesn’t sugarcoat the nastiness of some adults!
I think I loved these stories as a kid because, yes, there were indeed awful teachers at my school who yelled at and belittled us. As a kid, it wasn’t shocking to see exaggerated, cartoon versions of them in this story. I saw them everyday on playground duty!
Universal Themes
Now, I love using Universal Themes because they (by design) connect to any topic and Matilda is no exception. You can use any one of the Universal Themes with this book, but I’ll show how I would connect to Power – since it’s my favorite! I’d recommend using the same Universal Theme across multiple book studies. How do we see Power in Matilda, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and The Westing Game? And you can naturally connect your Universal Theme to science, history, math, etc.
1. Find Examples of Power in Matilda
First, my students would create a list of specific examples of power in Matilda. We’d update this as we read, perhaps after each chapter. Don’t let kids be vague! We want zoomed in, super specific examples of power. Do encourage a broad interpretation of power.
Some sample examples of power in Matilda:
- Mr. Wormwood uses lies to swindle his customers
- Books have power to broaden Matilda’s world
- Mrs. Phelps has power to expose Matilda to books
- TV has power over Matilda’s family
- Miss Honey has power to encourage Matilda
- The newt has power over Mrs. Trunchbull
- Matilda has the power to move objects
- The name “Magnus” has power
Push your students to move beyond the obvious. So, yes, obviously Mrs. Trunchbull is physically powerful (she has bulging muscles and literally throws children). Yet, a tiny newt has power over Mrs. Trunchbull! The mere word “Magnus” terrifies her! Students should start seeing power in unexpected places.
2. Grouping the Examples
Once you have lots of examples of power in Matilda, encourage students to start grouping “types” of power. For example, Matilda and Miss Honey and Mrs. Phelps have very different types of power when compared to Mrs. Trunchbull or the Wormwoods. Limit students to maybe 2 to 4 categories of power.
Some types of power in Matilda might include:
- Physical Power
- Mental Power
- Subtle Power
- Encouraging Power
- Discouraging Power
3. Explore A Generalization
Finally, your students can form statements or generalizations about Power. I, personally, like the phrase “Power can be subtle or obvious” when reading Matilda. Loud, brash adults make use of obvious power like yelling, flexing muscles, and throwing kids through the air. Matilda uses subtle power, like her tricks with the superglue or the bird. Even when Matilda developers her telekensis, she uses it in a subtle way.
You might also ask students which generalization they think most applies to Matilda:
- Power may be used or abused. — Students might note how Matilda, Mrs. Phelps, and Miss Honey use their power, while Mr. Wormood and Ms. Trunchnull abuse their power.
- Power is the ability to influence. – This might highlight how different adults influence Matilda or how Matilda influences those around her.
- Power can be taken, earned, or given. – This one’s interesting as it opens up a discussion of who has actually earned their power in Matilda. Matilda was given her power. Has Mr. Wormwood taken his power through his lies? What about Miss Honey and Ms. Trunchbull? Did they earn their power? Was it given to them? Did they take it?
Finally, students can create their own statements about power based on Matilda. I usually scaffold this by having them use the types of power from the previous step. For example, I could write “Power can be physical or mental” using my sample types of conflict.
Comparing Ms. Honey and Matilda
I think a really interesting task is to compare Ms. Honey and Matilda. They get along swimmingly. Their backgrounds are similar. And yet, I think Matilda is very different than Ms. Honey.
You might even ask “Which person has more power?”
Enrichment Topics
Matilda opens up several topics for interested students to explore:
- The hammer throw – the technique Ms. Thornbull uses to toss Amanda Thripp by her pigtails. It doesn’t involve a hammer at all!
- Newts – Newts are semiaquatic salamanders. Some are poisonous! Perhaps Ms. Thornbull was right to be scared.
- Charles Dickens – no, you don’t have to read A Tale of Two Cities or Great Expectations, but your young students would probably love to hear some summaries! And, heck, all of the fourth graders at my school read A Christmas Carol in December. They told me all about it in sixth grade!