This is one of the absolute cutest early middle grade reads. Matilda is an adorable character with great personality and she serves as an excellent example to young kids about believing in yourself. If you've watched the movie, it follows the narrative of the novel pretty closely, so it was good to read these characters and have the visual pictures matching up to what I'm familiar with in terms of the film.

I like that there are multiple levels for understanding the story and I think it becomes more and more of an evolving social message as the reader ages. There was definitely more of a gut-wrenching response from me on this read since I have young kids of my own.

The writing is perfectly age appropriate and somehow, despite the absolutely horrible way Matilda's parents and Miss Trunchbull act, it doesn't read overly scary for that set. The pacing is fairly quick and there are great bits of minor entertainment throughout.

Matilda herself is just the best character. She is intelligent and humble, has a great sense of moral character, and is quite confident despite her horrible upbringing. She is a truly wonderful child and an encouraging character for children that they can rise above challenging circumstances.

This is my favorite Roald Dahl read thus far. A great classic.