Lovely Little Shelf

I remember my third grade teacher giving me a nice, shiny copy of this book and telling me that Matilda always reminded her of me.  I was immediately sold because: 1- it seemed like a huge, fat book at the time, which I have always loved, and 2- I loved my third grade teacher, Miss Dodson, with an undying passion. I thought she was the gentlest, sweetest, prettiest woman who had ever lived and I wanted to be just like her.

So, it turned out that Matilda was about this little girl who didn’t fit in with her family because her parents were crazy (true of mine, at the time) and her brother was dark and mean (also true of mine at the time).  She escaped by reading.  Her school principal was a complete nut and marched around glaring at kids.  All true of my life.  And then there was Miss Honey.  The gentlest, sweetest, prettiest teacher in the world.  And she loved Matilda and helped her fight all the evils in her life.  In fact, Matilda even ended up living with Miss Honey.  Was Miss Dodson saying she wanted me to live with her?! Did she want to adopt me?!  To this day, I still picture Miss Dodson’s house just how they described Miss Honey’s- a little cottage with a pretty garden all around it.

I think that I would have loved this book anyway because Matilda and I really did have a lot in common and nothing beats how Roald Dahl writes for kids- not like they are stupid, but as if, in fact, they are much smarter than the adults around them. The fact that this book had reminded my beloved teacher of me just put it over the top for me.  It will always be one of my favorite children’s books.

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