December Meeting Wrap-Up

The Book Buddies Book Club met this past Monday, December 21st to discuss the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. We had a terrific meeting, a great discussion and lots of holiday treats!

We began by talking about Matilda as a person and the things that were special about her. We discussed how she handled her situation at home and why her parents were so mean to her. Some felt that they were jealous of her abilities and one member thought that maybe her parents felt boys were better than girls and that they were right to focus all of their attention on her brother, Michael.

We were split on who we thought was worse: Mr. Wormwood or Miss Trunchbull. Some readers felt that Mr. Wormwood was worse because he was a crook and because he was so mean to Matilda at home. Others felt Miss Trunchbull was worse because she was so mean to all of the students at Crunchem Hall Primary School and because of "The Chokey."

We all agreed that it was wrong for Miss Trunchbull to not give Miss Honey her full salary and to have forced her out of the home that was rightfully hers. And we were all surprised that Miss Trunchbull turned out to be Miss Honey's aunt!

We talked about Matilda's special powers and how she helped Miss Honey get her home back. We were all very impressed with Matilda's brilliant plan and thought the chalk trick was smart. We agreed that Matilda will probably not see her family again but that she will be happy living with Miss Honey.

Overall most of us really liked Matilda and would recommend it to friends. We are all eager to read more Roald Dahl books.

During our book discussion we decorated some holiday window ornaments and ate some holiday cupcakes and cookies. We also worked on some word mastery, trying to make up as many words as we could using the letters from this sentence: "Matilda Loves Reading." We came up with some great words including mall, slime and validate! It was a terrific meeting and thanks to everyone who came out for book club so close to christmas!

Have a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year!