I got the chance to finish Matilda by Roald Dahl on a busy Sunday since all the Filipinos, including my family, were preparing for the New Year's Eve. I was just curling up with it at a bamboo chair in our living room, catatonic to the people bustling around. My absorption and enthrallment in it may have been so deafening to them, or they may have been intrigued by why I made different facial reactions whenever I turned the next pages. Then, it occurred to me that I had an important appointment with my best friend! But it was still past 2 O clock. Relief flooded over me and I kept at it. When it was already 4 O clock , I was on the verge of the last pages, but I was agitated. I really had to go. She must have been waiting for me for minutes on end. I dismissed this guilty feeling, apathetic to whatever comeuppance I might get. Bahala na si Batman! 
 When I finished it, I blurted out ," I WANNA READ ANOTHER ROALD DAHL's BOOKS!!!" My younger sister and her friends who happened to have been playing in front of me gawked at me in surprise. I found myself clasping my hands and turning my head up. It was a childish and silly moment. 
 Although I have read some Roald Dahl's books, I still was not his big fan. By golly, it has just occurred to me now that the only children book author I look up to and consider as my favorite one is Genaro Gojo Cruz, my countryman writer. Gee! I see. Anyway, I first read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory upon being fascinated by its movie adaptation. I liked the book so much because of the "psychological character" of Mr. Wonka played by award -winning Hollywood actor Johny Depp. Thereafter, I wanted another one. However, I was disappointed when I read Charlie and the Glass Elevator because of its only-elementary-students-would-appreciate impact. After all, I was anything but childish. Nevertheless, I still hung in there. I read and enjoyed Boy: Tales of Childhood . It's not a fantasy, but a memoir of his childhood. The laconic account of his miserable but mischievous childhood's education drove me nuts, reminding me of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. However, I was not falling in love with Dahl yet. In fact, I gave one of his short story The Landlady a very low rating . I was no longer interested in his other stories given that I had planned to have Roald-Dahl-stories marathon, except my hidden desire for Matilda and The BFG. As you know, I could not afford such books yet. 
 In light of Matilda, I now consider Roald Dahl as one of my favorite children books writers. I enjoyed it a whole a lot. First, I loved her character as a precocious child. I am pretty sure that even book worms out there would be exhilarated by her early interest in reading books, especially that she even read the adults ones which are supposed to be heavy for a young reader whose IQ is still underdeveloped. Thus, I am ashamed to say that I did not read the books such as The Secret Garden, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Gone to Earth, Kim, The Invisible Man, The Old Man and the Sea, The Sound and the Fury, The Grapes of Wrath, The Good Companions, Brighton Rock, Animal Farm, Moby Dick, Ivanhoe, The Red Pony and Peter and Wendy. 
 The most exciting part about the book is Matilda's tricks. Since she is a brilliant child, I can't wait to know the next situation on how she will play tricks on her apathetic dad, on how she will engage in an argument with Mrs. Trunchball, and on how she will help Ms. Jenny to get her house and money back by scaring the living daylights out of her. It is a whodunit scene. 
 The book is worth reading because it is replete with moral lessons. For instance, Matilda embodies intellectual humility granted that she is still innocent. It is our perception that a gifted child is supposed to have la di da attitude. 
 One of the things I have observed since I read Roald Dahl's books is that most of his stories' theme is about parents' negligence and wrong educational system. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr. Wonka psychologically paints a picture of being an orphan, his hidden desire to get a paternal attention. In Boy: The Tales of Childhood, Dahl recollects his school life when he went through his teachers' ill-treatment. In Matilda, her parents are not responsible for their kids, depicted as apathetic and lazy parents. They are not even aware of Matilda's brilliance mind. Furthermore, they don't teach them good values. Rather, they inculcate their kids in the essence of business competition. Matilda's father is a crooked businessman whereas her mother prefers pulchritude to intelligence. Fortunately, despite her young age, Matilda is smart and mature enough to understand what is good or bad. Also, she is sensible and sensitive to the people around her. On the other hand, the book describes the rotten education system represented by Ms. Trunchball. In this case, Roald Dahl appears to have used the same rhetoric patterns. It seems that he deeply drew most of his stories from poverty, some kind of Charles Dickens style. 
 Supposedly, Matilda was part of my reading class with my Korean student. My student was so generous to fault that she bought me my own copy. In fact, we came to terms that I should not read it on weekends,except in our class. However, I could not hold back the temptation. (laughs) Whoa! I still have this tinge of Roald-Dahlic excitement. (laughs)