Plot Summary

Often left alone at home by her neglectful, self-involved parents, Matilda Wormwood teaches
herself to read at age three; by age five, she’s read all the children’s books at the local library and
more than a dozen adult classics like Great Expectations and The Grapes of Wrath. Matilda also has a
knack for math and can do arithmetic in her head.

Her parents have no interest in books and think Matilda’s wasting her time. Her father, Harry
Wormwood, dresses garishly and sells run-down used cars faked-up as nearly new; he proudly
teaches his young son, Michael, the fine points of cheating customers. Matilda’s mother spends
afternoons playing Bingo and evenings watching TV. Both parents are self-important and small-
minded; they regard their daughter as an annoyance, and they treat her rudely.

Matilda decides to get even with them. She puts superglue into her father’s porkpie hat, and it takes
him a day to get it removed, along with a lot of his hair. She borrows a neighbour’s parrot and
positions the caged bird in the chimney; when the parrot speaks during dinner, it terrifies her
parents, who believe it’s a burglar or a ghost. She switches her mother’s platinum hair dye with her
father’s hair lotion, causing him to convert his hair from black to ashy white.

Matilda enters Crunchem Hall Primary School, where her teacher is the kind and lovely Miss Honey,
who quickly recognizes Matilda’s genius and gives her advanced schoolwork. She tries to convince
Matilda’s parents to take seriously their child’s brilliance, but the Wormwoods dismiss the idea.

The headmistress, Miss Trunchbull is powerfully built and mean to the children, whom she despises.
A former Olympic hammer thrower, Trunchbull has a knack for lifting up children who annoy her and
throwing them through windows or over fences. One boy is caught stealing her lunchtime dessert;
she calls an assembly, where she forces the boy to eat an entire giant chocolate cake. The boy
succeeds, which frustrates Trunchbull.

The tyrannical woman hates Matilda on sight. When the girl’s pal, Lavender, sneaks a newt into
Trunchbull’s water glass, the startled headmistress accuses Matilda of the deed. Furious, Matilda’s
eyes somehow send energy toward the glass and tip it over, newt and all, onto Trunchbull.

Matilda confesses to Miss Honey that she made the glass fall; to prove it, she concentrates and
makes the glass tip over again. Amazed, Miss Honey agrees to work secretly with Matilda to
understand her new power.

They walk to the teacher’s tiny countryside cottage, which has no running water and no furniture.
Miss Honey explains that when she was a little girl named Jenny, her mother died young, and her
father, Magnus, brought in Jenny’s aunt Agatha to help raise the child at Jenny and Magnus’s
beautiful house. The aunt, though, was cruel; she murdered Jenny’s father and framed it as suicide,
then enslaved the girl for housework. Jenny later attended a nearby teacher’s college, and she got
hired at Crunchem Hall, but the aunt still forced her to sign over her salary. Miss Honey escaped by
moving to the cottage, which the owner rents to her for pennies a week. Her aunt Agatha is
Headmistress Trunchbull, who still lives in Jenny’s old house as though it is rightfully hers; she forged
the deed.

Matilda decides to help Miss Honey. Each day after school for a week, she practices making one of
her father’s cigars levitate and move about. At school, when Trunchbull teaches Miss Honey’s
Thursday class, Matilda telekinetically makes a piece of chalk write on the board, saying that it’s
Magnus, who has come back to warn Agatha to give Jenny her house and salary and leave town—or
he’ll get her like she got him. Trunchbull faints and must be carried to the sick-room.
The next day, Trunchbull’s assistant, Mr. Trilby, goes to Trunchbull’s house to find it unlocked. He
enters to see that everything is in place except that it is vacant. Miss Honey then gets a letter from a
law firm that says her father’s will has suddenly appeared. It gives the estate to her, including the
family house where Trunchbull lived.

Miss Honey moves into her old house. Matilda visits her every afternoon. Miss Honey gets the girl
transferred to the top grade, where she’s an excellent student.

Matilda’s father gets into trouble with the law for his crooked business operations, and the
Wormwoods pack hurriedly to escape to Spain. Matilda doesn’t want to go; she hurries with Miss
Honey to her house, where the teacher offers to care for the girl while the rest of the Wormwoods
escape. Harry and his wife shrug and accept the deal. They pile into a car with their son and drive
away. Matilda jumps into Miss Honey’s arms, and they hug.
1. 
What is Matilda's brother's name?

 Danny
 Magnus
 James
 Michael
2. 
What was the first "grown-up" book that Matilda read?

 War and Peace

 Just So Stories
 The Red Pony
 Great Expectations
3. 
Where does Matilda's mysterious power "shoot" from?

 The top of her head

 Her finger
 Her eyes
 Her elbow
4. 
What does Matilda's mother do all day long?

 Shop
 Play bingo
 Dye her hair
 Exercise
5. 
What was Fred's parrot's name?

 Bruce
 Polly
 Nigel
 Chopper
6. 
What does Mr. Wormwood use to make his cars' engines run smoothly?

 Honey
 Extra oil
 An electric drill
 Sawdust
7. 
Every day Mr. Wormwood put something on his hair. What was it?

 Styling cream
 Hair tonic
 Wax
 Peroxide
8. 
What was Miss Honey's first name?

 Jennifer
 Lavender
 Agatha
 Hortensia
9. 
What name is on the gate of Matilda's house?

 Comfy Cottage
 Cosy Nook
 Happy Valley
 Gipsy House
10. 
What is Matilda's complaint about the books of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien?

 No funny bits

 Too long
 Too difficult
 No romance
11. 
The Trunchbull puts children in a cupboard to punish them. What is it called?

 The Chokey
 The Stifler
 The Coffin
 The Black Hole
12. 
Who put itching powder in the Trunchbull's knickers?

 Miss Honey
 Hortensia
 Matilda
 Lavender
13. 
In what event did the Trunchbull compete at the Olympics?

 Hammer throw
 Weightlifting
 Javelin
 100 yard dash
14. 
What did Bruce Bogtrotter steal from the Trunchbull?

 Egg salad sandwich

 Riding crop
 Chocolate cake
 Medal
15. 
What does Lavender put in the Trunchbull's water jug?

 A newt
 A frog
 A mouse
 A goldfish
16. 
According to the Trunchbull, the perfect school would have...?

 Uniforms
 Strict discipline
 Corporal punishment
 No children
17. 
What relation is the Trunchbull to Miss Honey?

 Her mother
 Her grandmother
 Her aunt
 Her cousin
18. 
What was Miss Honey's father's name?

 Harry
 Victor
 Magnus
 Nigel
19. 
What is Matilda's third and final miracle?

 Flying
 Lifting a child
 Tipping the glass
 Writing on the chalkboard
20. 
Where does the Wormwood family (minus Matilda) move at the end of the story?

 Russia
 Australia
 Spain
 USA