I just finished re-reading this book for the first time since elementary school, and I can still see why it was one of my favourites. It sparkles with humour and speaks with understanding affection of a reader's love of books. Young Matilda is a girl after my own heart. She is one of many Dahl characters who is obviously a direct ancestor of Harry Potter. How many Dahl heroes and heroines were raised by horrible relatives, and overcame their troubles through a special destiny? It is a formula which resonates within the soul of every child who has ever felt hard-done-by the adult world. Wonderful, and well worth the re-read.