Matilda-Book and Musical

Hey people! So I know, I know, I haven't posted in like a super duper long time. And I know I should have posted about the wonderful book I read at camp right when I got home, but truthfully, there wasn't one. A wonderful book I read at camp, that is. All I read in three whole weeks was this Hunger Games Tribute Guide that could barely be counted as a book and was just meh. So then after only a week I took off again, this time traveling to London. And I came back like 3 weeks ago, and then school started, and then all of a sudden I was busy. I'M SO SO SO SORRY.

Ok, so, anyways, the... thing I'm reviewing is Matilda. I know that you must know it's a book, but did you know it was a musical? I didn't until we got tickets.

Most of you who have and haven't read it are probably thinking it's a book for little girls and we shouldn't be reviewing it on TEEN bookshelf. I personally don't agree. I think that Matilda is a good book for all ages, really. Except maybe if you are 3. Because the Trunchbull is a pretty scary character for 3 year olds, if you know what I'm talking about.

So guess who the main character is? A GIRL NAMED MATILDA. Woah! She is 5 1/2 years old and just happens to be a genius. She is so much smarter than me. And I'm not even dumb! Like, she reads adult novels (for example, Charles Dickens) and she can multiply things like 14 times 19 in a millisecond. What even is that? Comment below if you can mentally solve it. Back to the point. So the genius-ness is not passed down in the family because her parents (who, by the way, have the craziest fashion sense), are not smart at all.

Mr. Wormwood, her father, is very full of himself. He runs a used car business, selling cars that are totally worthless, but making them appear almost good as new for the first few days, until they break. His idea of a good book is a car magazine, and he can barely figure out his profit for one day (using addition and subtraction only) in 10 minutes. With paper.

Mrs. Wormwood is a useless lump. She sits around watching television all day, and her favorite expression is, "You chose books, I chose looks!"

Matilda's older brother, named Michael, is very dim and isn't really a big character.

Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood are terrible parents. But only for Matilda. Kind of like how in Harry Potter, the Dursleys spoil Dudley the Dud and hate Harry. So anyways, they love Michael and think he is extremely bright and wonderful, and they hate Matilda, and think she is useless, and worst of all, stupid. They think a 5 year old reading Charles Dickens is stupid!

So, I'm kind of... I don't know... terrible at summaries, but I'll try anyway, because if you haven't read Matilda yet you'll be just like "so what exactly is the point of this book? It sounds pretty stupid. I guess I won't read it..." and I do not want this happening so... here I try...

Mr. Wormwood is a very, lets just say, terrible father/person, and one day Matilda gets absolutely fed up with him. To calm her down and keep her sane, she decides that whenever she gets sick of her dad mistreating her, she will play a prank on him. Then he will be bearable for a little while, until he is nasty to her again, and deserves another prank.

One day Mr. Wormwood decides to send Matilda to school. But this isn't just any normal school. This school is... CRUNCHEM HALL ELEMENTARY, run by... THE TRUNCHBULL. The Trunchbull is an ex-Olympian, who used to throw the hammer for Great Britain in the Olympics and retired to throwing small children in elementary school. She enjoys punishing children by stretching their ears, holding them in the air by their hair, and, even better, throwing them to the next county. She also has a torturing device called... THE CHOKEY. The Chokey is a small closet with nails and broken glass that she throws kids in for up to a day. If you are in the Chokey you have to stand up absolutely straight or else... you DIE! Just kidding.

So then there's a bunch of other characters I didn't name and yadayada.

Anywhoo. Now I will review the musical, which by the way I saw with my cousin. By the way you people might want to check out her blog, E's World, especially if you enjoy fashion and random stuff.

So I saw the tickets that we had before we went, and it said it was recommended for ages 6 and up. I thought, "Why on earth would Matilda be recommended for ages 6 and up? Maybe it's just wimpy 6 year olds." Then, after I saw it, I thought it should be for, I don't know, 8 or 10 and up. Some of the REALLY loud parts were kind of overwhelming and I think if I were 6 or 7 or even 8 I would be freaked out. But maybe it's just me.

The weird thing is, I saw mostly adults at the show. I feel like there were, like, 4 times as many adults as there were kids, or even more.

The cast was SUPER good. Matilda was just like I imagined her, and so was Mr. Wormwood. The Trunchbull was played by a guy, but I think that really fit her and was a very good choice. It was like how John Travolta plays Tracy's mother in Hairspray, if you know what I'm talking about. But I had this one problem. Mrs. Wormwood wasn't fat enough! In the book she's supposed to be a total couch potato but in the musical she has a dance partner and all that jazz. LOL, get it? Hahaha.

Also, they casted the kids GREAT! They were adorable, and good dancers, and good singers, and did I mention they were adorable?

You people should TOTALLY read this book. And see the musical if possible.

I rate both the book and the musical 5 stars stars stars stars stars...  yeah I'm kind of hyper hyper hyper hyper hyper.

ANNABETH <3