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Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Roald Dahl 100 Blog Tour: Excerpt from Matilda + Giveaway




Since I was in elementary school, Roald Dahl has held a special place in my heart. It is an honor and a privilege for me to be able to celebrate his 100th birthday with this blog tour. Happy Birthday, Roald Dahl ❤️


Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was one of the world’s most imaginative, successful and beloved storytellers. He was born in Wales of Norwegian parents and spent much of his childhood in England. After establishing himself as a writer for adults with short story collections such as Kiss Kiss and Tales of the Unexpected, Roald Dahl began writing children's stories in 1960 while living with his family in both the U.S. and in England. His first stories were written as entertainment for his own children, to whom many of his books are dedicated.

Roald Dahl’s first children’s story, The Gremlins, was a story about little creatures that were responsible for the various mechanical failures on airplanes. The Gremlins came to the attention of both First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who loved to read the story to her grandchildren, and Walt Disney, with whom Roald Dahl had discussions about the production of a movie.

Roald Dahl was inspired by American culture and by many of the most quintessential American landmarks to write some of his most memorable passages, such as the thrilling final scenes in James and the Giant Peach - when the peach lands on the Empire State Building! Upon the publication of James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl began work on the story that would later be published as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and today, Roald Dahl’s stories are available in 58 languages and, by a conservative estimate, have sold more than 200 million copies.

Roald Dahl also enjoyed great success for the screenplays he wrote for both the James Bond film You Only Live Twice in 1967 and for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, released one year later, which went on to become a beloved family film. Roald Dahl’s popularity continues to increase as his fantastic novels, including James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, delight an ever-growing legion of fans.

Two charities have been founded in Roald Dahl’s memory: the first charity, Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, created in 1991, focuses on making life better for seriously ill children through the funding of specialist nurses, innovative medical training, hospitals, and individual families across the UK.

The second charity, The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre – a unique cultural, literary and education hub – opened in June 2005 in Great Missenden where Roald Dahl lived and wrote many of his best-loved works. 10% of income from Roald Dahl books and adaptations are donated to the two Roald Dahl charities.

On September 13, 2006, the first national Roald Dahl Day was celebrated, on what would have been the author’s 90th birthday. The event proved such a success that Roald Dahl Day is now marked annually all over the world. September 13, 2016 is Roald Dahl 100, marking 100 years since the birth of the world’s number one storyteller. There will be celebrations for Roald Dahl 100 throughout 2016, delivering a year packed with gloriumptious treats and surprises for everyone.








Today, I have the pleasure of sharing an excerpt from Matilda in honor of Roald Dahl's 100th birthday. For those of you who are not familiar with the book, check it out!



Matilda by Roald Dahl 
New Paperback Edition, 256 pages
Publisher: Puffin Books/Penguin Random House
Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Mrs. ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defense of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable. Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The reader cares about Matilda because in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.

Matilda was one of the first stories that made me realize that I was not alone in the world. It has and will stay with me for the rest of my life. Below is a wonderful excerpt from this fantastic book that will surely have you running off to re-read it, or to read it for the first time. 


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 lyrical that day, I might write, “ It is a curious truth that grasshoppers have their hearing-organs in the sides of the abdomen. Your daughter Vanessa, judging by what she’s learnt this term, has no hearing organs at all.”

I might even delve deeper into natural history and say, “ The periodical cicada spends six years as a grub underground, and no more than six days as a free creature of sunlight and air. Your son Wilfred has spent six years as a grub in this school and we are still waiting for him to emerge from the chrysalis.” A particularly poisonous little girl might sting me into saying, “ Fiona has the same glacial beauty as an iceberg, but unlike the iceberg, she has absolutely nothing below the surface.” I think I might enjoy writing end-of-term reports for the stinkers in my class. But enough of that. We have to get on.

Occassionally one comes across parents who take the opposite line, who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones. Mr and Mrs Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab. A scab is something you have to put up with until the time comes when you can pick it off and flick it away. Mr and Mrs Wormwood looked forward enormously to the time when they could pick their little daughter off and flick her away, preferably into the next county or even further than that.

It is bad enough when parents treat ordinary children as though they were scabs and bunions, but it becomes somehow a lot worse when the child in question is extraordinary, and by that I mean sensitive and brilliant. Matilda was both of these things, but above all she was brilliant. Her mind was so nimble and she was so quick to learn that her ability should have been obvious even to the most half-witted of parents. But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter. To tell the truth, I doubt they would have noticed had she crawled into the house with a broken leg.

Matilda’s brother Michael was a perfectly normal boy, but the sister, as I said, was something to make your eyes pop. By the age of one and a half her speech was perfect and she knew as many words as most grown-ups. The parents, instead of applauding her, called her a noisy chatterbox and told her sharply that small girls should be seen and not heard.

By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting.

“ Daddy, ” she said, “ do you think you could buy me a book? ”

“ A book? ” he said. “What d’you want a flaming book for? ”

“ To read, Daddy. ”

“ What’s wrong with the telly, for heaven’s sake? We’ve got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You’re getting spoiled, my girl! ”

Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother (five years older than her) went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo in a town eight miles away. Mrs. Wormwood was hooked on bingo and played it five afternoons a week. On the afternoon of the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set out all by herself to walk to the public library in the village. When she arrived, she introduced herself to the librarian, Mrs. Phelps. She asked if she might sit awhile and read a book. Mrs. Phelps, slightly taken aback at the arrival of such a tiny girl unaccompanied by a parent, nevertheless told her she was very welcome.

“ Where are the children’s books, please? ” Matilda asked.

“ They’re over there on those lower shelves,” Mrs. Phelps told her. “ Would you like me to help you find a nice one with lots of pictures in it? ”

"No, thank you, ” Matilda said. “ I’m sure I can manage. ”

From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library. The walk took only ten minutes and this allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy corner devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children’s book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else.

Mrs. Phelps, who had been watching her with fascination for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her. “ Can I help you, Matilda? ”

“ I’m wondering what to read next, ” Matilda said. “ I’ve finished all the children’s books. ”

“ You mean you’ve looked at all the pictures? ”

“ Yes, but I’ve read the books as well. ”

Mrs. Phelps looked down at Matilda from her great height and Matilda looked right back up at her.

“ I thought some were very poor, ” Matilda said, “ but others were lovely. I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery. The mystery of the room behind the closed door and the mystery of the garden behind the big wall. ”

Mrs. Phelps was stunned. “ Exactly how old are you, Matilda? ” she asked.

“ Four years and three months, ” Matilda said.

Mrs. Phelps was more stunned than ever, but she had the sense not to show it. “ What sort of a book would you like to read next? ” she asked.

Matilda said, “ I would like a really good one that grown-ups read. A famous one. I don’t know any names. ”

Mrs. Phelps looked along the shelves, taking her time, She didn’t quite know what to bring out. How, she asked herself, does one choose a famous grown-up book for a four-year-old girl? Her first thought was to pick a young teenager’s romance of the kind that is written for fifteen-year-old school girls, but for some reason she found herself instinctively walking past that particular shelf.

“ Try this, ” she said at last. “ It’s very famous and very good. If it’s too long for you, just let me know and I’ll find something shorter and a bit easier. ”

“ Great Expectations, ” Matilda read, “ by Charles Dickens. I’d love to try it. ”

I must be mad, Mrs. Phelps told herself, but to Matilda she said, “ Of course you may try it. ”

Over the next few afternoons Mrs. Phelps could hardly take her eyes from the small girl sitting for hour after hour in the big armchair at the far end of the room with the book on her lap. It was necessary to rest it on the lap because it was too heavy for her to hold up, which meant she had to sit leaning forward in order to read. And a strange sight it was, this tiny dark-haired person sitting there with her feet nowhere near touching the floor, totally absorbed in the wonderful adventures of Pip and old Miss Havisham and her cobwebbed house and by the spell of magic that Dickens the great story-teller had woven with his words. The only movement from the reader was the lifting of the hand every now and then to turn over a page, and Mrs Phelps always felt sad when the time came for her to cross the floor and say, “ It’s ten to five, Matilda. ”

During the first week of Matilda’s visits Mrs. Phelps had said to her, “ Does your mother walk you down here every day and then take you home? ”

“ My mother goes to Aylesbury every afternoon to play bingo, ” Matilda had said. “ She doesn’t know I come here. ”

“ But that’s surely not right, ” Mrs. Phelps said. “I think you’d better ask her. ”

“ I’d rather not,” Matilda said. “ She doesn’t encourage reading books. Nor does my father. ”

“ But what do they expect you to do every afternoon in an empty house? ”

“ Just mooch around and watch the telly. ”

“ I see. ”

"She doesn’t really care what I do, ” Matilda said a little sadly.

Mrs. Phelps was concerned about the child’s safety on the walk through the fairly busy village High Street and the crossing of the road, but she decided not to interfere.

Within a week, Matilda had finished Great Expectations which in that edition contained four hundred and eleven pages. “ I loved it, ” she said to Mrs. Phelps. “ Has Mr Dickens written any others? ”

“ A great number, ” said the astounded Mrs Phelps. “ Shall I choose you another? ”

Over the next six months, under Mrs. Phelps’s watchful and compassionate eye, Matilda read the following books:

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Animal Farm by George Orwell


It was a formidable list and by now Mrs. Phelps was filled with wonder and excitement, but it was probably a good thing that she did not allow herself to be completely carried away by it all. Almost anyone else witnessing the achievements of this small child would have been tempted to make a great fuss and shout the news all over the village and beyond, but not so Mrs Phelps. She was someone who minded her own business and had long since discovered it was seldom worth while to interfere with other people’s children.

“ Mr. Hemingway says a lot of things I don’t understand,” Matilda said to her. “ Especially about men and women. But I loved it all the same. The way he tells it I feel I am right there on the spot watching it all happen. ”

“ A fine writer will always make you feel that, ” Mrs. Phelps said. “ And don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music. ”

“ I will, I will. ”

“ Did you know, ” Mrs Phelps said, “ That public libraries like this allow you to borrow books and take them home? ”

“ I didn’t know that, ” Matilda said. “ Could I do it? ”
“Of course,” Mrs. Phelps said. “ When you have chosen the book you want, bring it to me so I can make a note of it and it’s yours for two weeks. You can take more than one if you wish. ”

From then on, Matilda would visit the library only once a week in order to take out new books and return the old ones. Her own small bedroom now became her reading-room and there she would sit and read most afternoons, often with a mug of hot chocolate beside her. She was not quite tall enough to reach things around the kitchen, but she kept a small box in the outhouse which she brought in and stood on in order to get whatever she wanted. Mostly it was hot chocolate she made, warming the milk in a saucepan on the stove before mixing it. Occasionally she made Bovril or Ovaltine. It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English Village.

Copyright © Roald Dahl, reprinted with permission from Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House

So, what do you guys think? Admittedly, I got a little teary eyed reading this again. I hope you guys check out the other marvelous stops on the Roald Dahl 100 blog tour!


September 5 Peace Loves Books - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Excerpt
September 5 - The Compulsive Reader - Danny, The Champion of the World Review 
September 5 - The Starry Eyed Revue - James and The Giant Peach Review
September 6 - Ex Libris Kate - The Witches Review
September 6 - Lost In Lit - The Witches Feature - Revisiting The Witches as an adult 
September 7 - Cozy Reading Corner - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator Excerpt 
September 7 - The Plot Bunny - The Magic Finger Review 
September 7 - Lilli's Reflections - The Twits Excerpt 
September 8 - The Irish Banana - Matilda Review 
September 8 - Ticket To Anywhere - Danny, The Champion of the World Excerpt
September 8 - Cuddlebuggery - Quentin Blake's Illustrations of Roald Dahl's Books Feature
September 8 - Beth Fish Reads - Going Solo Review 
September 9 -  Ravenous Reader - The BFG Excerpt 
September 9 - Paper Cuts - The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me Excerpt 
September 9 - The Lovely Books - The Witches Excerpt 
September 9 - A Glass of Wine - James and the Giant Peach Excerpt
September 10 - Novel Novice - George's Marvelous Medicine Excerpt 
September 10 - YA Bibliophile - Fantastic Mr. Fox Review
September 10 - Watercolor Moods - The Magic Finger Feature - Collage
September 10 - Cracking The Cover - The Magic Finger Feature - Short Review and History 
September 11- Jessabella Reads - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Review 
September 11- Who R U Blog - Charlie and the Glass Elevator Feature - Trivia
September 12 - Belle of the Library - The Twits Review 
September 12 - Book Mania Life - George's Marvelous Medicine Review 
September 12 - The Book Swarm - Danny, The Champion of the World Excerpt 
September 12 - Book Belles - James and the Giant Peach Feature - Book to Movie
September 12 -  Alexa Loves Books - Matilda Feature - Style Files
September 13- Roald's birthday! Brittany's Book Rambles - Matilda Excerpt 
September 13 - Roald's birthday!Mundie Kids - The BFG Review
September 13 - Roald's birthday!Read Now Sleep Later - Boy Excerpt
September 13 - Roald's birthday!Consumed By Books - Matilda Excerpt 
September 13 - Roald's birthday! - I Am A Reader - James and the Giant Peach Excerpt 
September 13 - The Novel Life Lessons that Roald Dahl has taught me feature
September 13 - The Book Rat - Esio Trot Excerpt
September 14 - Belle's Bash - The BFG Excerpt
September 14 - WinterHaven Books - Esio Trot Excerpt 
September 14 - A Book and A Latte - The Magic Finger Excerpt
September 14 - Hello Chelly - Matilda Feature - BookBags
September 14 - Loving Dem Books - Youtube Feature
September 15 - Writing My Own Fairy-Tale - George's Marvelous Medicine Review 
September 15 - The Book Bandit -The Giraffe, and the Pelly and Me Review
September 15 - Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile - Esio Trot Review
September 15 - Coffee, Books and Me - Top Ten Reasons You Should Read Roald Dahl's Books
September 16 - Undeniably Book Nerdy - Boy Review 
September 16 - Supernatural Snark - James and the Giant Peach Review 
September 16 - My Friend Amy - Going Solo Excerpt 
September 16 - The Quiet Concert - Danny, the Champion of the World Review 
September 17 - Book Briefs - Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator 
September 17 - Andi's ABCs - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Feature - ABCs
September 17 - Just Another Rabid Reader - The Magic Finger Review 
September 17 - Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia - Roald Dahl Feature - Food Feature
September 18 - Bumbles and Fairy-Tales - Matilda Feature - Reading With Dad
September 18 - Addicted 2 Novels - Esio Trot Review 
September 18 - Pure Imagination - Fantastic Mr. Fox Excerpt 
September 18 - Green Bean Teen Queen What Roald Dahl Means To Me Feature
September 19 - Bookiemoji - The Witches Excerpt 
September 19 - Shooting Stars Blog - Roald Dahl Feature - Etsy Products
September 19 - Nightly Reading - Matilda Review



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13 comments:

  1. It is so hard to believe that Roald Dahl would have been 100! I just re-read The BFG recently and I was so amazed at how magical and relatable his characters are. Matilda is absolutely one of my favourites and I guess as a book nerd, the one that I can relate to the most! :)

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    1. Matilda is my favorite and I'm so happy that I was able to spotlight this wonderful book in celebration of Roald Dahl's birthday. I never read the BFG (for shame, I know) but I really want to.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Lovely post! I adored Matilda as a kid and still do! This post definitely makes me want to reread it now.

    Traci @ The Reading Geek

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    1. Thank you! Matilda is my favorite from Roald Dahl, by far! I'm glad you want to reread it thanks to this post ^_^ Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Now I want to reread Matilda! I was not familiar with Dahl when I was a child. His later books were published after I was too old for them, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach were not, so I have no clue why I didn't read them. They were really popular with my son, though, and we read and reread them all several times. I think I might be in the mood for a Dahl-a-thon during the winter holidays. Thanks for sharing the excerpt. :)

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    1. Dahl-a-thon during the Winter holidays sounds absolutely magical! I hope you do it ^_^

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  4. Maltilda was always my favorite book growing up (along with The Phantom Tollbooth). I read this one so many times I ended up buying another copy. I haven't read it in so long...I think it's time for a reread! Great post!

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    1. I never read The Phantom Tollbooth, I'll have to look into it. Enjoy your re-read and thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Oh, Matilda ❤ Love this book so much as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

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    1. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't love Matilda! I have never read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory but my sisters love it ^_^ Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Lovely blog tour post Brittany :D Eee. I'm glad you love Roald Dahl. <3 I actually haven't read any books by him yet, lol. But one day :D I do adore this movie. <3

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