solascriptura Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 I'm considering using this book for a 3rd and 4th graders co-op book club. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curlymom Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Have you read it? I have one kid who liked Matilda and one who hated it so much he didn't want to finish it. The one who didn't like it was really, really bothered by Matilda's parents. It opens up a lot of good discussions, but he just didn't want to consider parents who were so mean to their own daughter. So, in my experience, it's a classic but not a good selection for my sensitive kid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKT Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) My kids thought it was great fun! I actually think it would be great for 3rd and 4th graders. I tried it when my child was in kindergarten (because Matilda herself is age 5 in the story), but my child was too scared of Miss Trunchbull to continue reading it at that time. Tried it again when she was in late second grade and my daughter loved it. Third and fourth grade is a good age, I think. You'll just have to be mindful of the usual Dahl flaws (Dahl seemed to think that being overweight was morally bad; his bad characters tend to be fat/or certain characters are ridiculed for being fat) and there is the occasional foul word like "stupid." Lots of insults from the mean characters. That sort of thing (but all useful points for critique/discussion!). Matilda is actually my favorite of Dahl's novels. Books and reading are championed throughout the story and Miss Honey is a lovely, soft character. And of course Matilda herself is very brave in a quiet way. So, I think it's definitely worthy of consideration. Edited February 3, 2016 by EKT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 I really like the book. I read it out loud to my boys at least twice. But, I got tired of reading all the name calling. I just didn't like so much rude language. Since I like to read with feeling it got old for me. I asked the boys if I could edit it out and they didn't mind a bit. At this moment I can't think of any other book I edited when reading out loud. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 We just finished it with my 2nd grader. She loved it. Even the older ones were snagging it to read between our read aloud. She thought the trunchbull was crazy, she like hostrachia (sp). Yes we did have discussions about the parents behaviors and I had to edit out a bit of the ugly words- I don't want them to stick. We also talked about how Miss Jenny did not stand up for her self at all I am actually looking for books that are like that as she loved it so much. We just hit the DVD from the library to watch too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 I remember parents having objections to it in one group I attended, so you may want to see how the parents feel? Objections included those mentioned above and the whole 'child punishing parents for bad behavior/few adults can be trusted' dynamic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solascriptura Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 I know what all of you are saying. I am uncertain about parents' objections to his....humor. 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillyDilly Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 My daughter loves it. We've read it 3 times and she is only 6. While reading aloud I do share the sentiment of feeling uncomfortable with the name calling and disrespect. On the other side of that coin, it has opened up some good conversations with my daughter about respect and kindness and fairness that has contributed to her recent leveling up in emotional maturity. This book might be a great opportunity for thoughtful discussion with 8-9 yr olds, if their parents are comfortable with the exposure. Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 My daughter loves it. We've read it 3 times and she is only 6. While reading aloud I do share the sentiment of feeling uncomfortable with the name calling and disrespect. On the other side of that coin, it has opened up some good conversations with my daughter about respect and kindness and fairness that has contributed to her recent leveling up in emotional maturity. This book might be a great opportunity for thoughtful discussion with 8-9 yr olds, if their parents are comfortable with the exposure. Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk I had those conversations when I read it out loud. I just got tired of reading out loud so much name calling. I can't remember what I ended up substituting for the name calling, but it was something similar to, "Matilda's dad said something rude". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Perfect age range, fun book!! They may not relate to everything because it has much to do with school, but that's not a huge deal. Reading level is about 3rd grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Is that the one where the teacher locks students into a closet? And, if memory serves me right, there are nails in the door of the closet that poke at the kids? If so, I tried reading it to my son when he was in about 3rd/4th grade and it upset him very much. I looked over at him on the couch, drooping and sad-eyed, and said, "Do you like this book?" He didn't. It made him very sad. He's not on the overly sensitive side usually, but he does have a soft heart for kids and animals still (he's 13 now) and hates to think of people being mean to each other. If it's the same book, we didn't get much farther than the kids being put in the closet by the mean teacher. At first I thought the book was meant to be funny, that the teacher wasn't *really* that mean, but when we realized she was that mean, it was all over for my son. He was too disturbed. Edited February 4, 2016 by Garga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 My teacher read it aloud to me and my class in third grade. In fact, I read it so many times that my copy is ragged now (he gave it to me for Christmas in third grade when he found out how much I loved it). I adore it. It was perfect for that grade. But as others have mentioned, Dahl does use some mean names and says stupid a lot in the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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