Matilda is a 1988 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published by Jonathan Cape. The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.
The book has been adapted in various media, including audio readings by actresses Joely Richardson, Miriam Margolyes and Kate Winslet; a 1996 feature film Matilda directed by Danny DeVito; a two-part BBC Radio 4 programme; and a 2010–2011 musical Matilda the Musical which ran on the West End in London, Broadway in New York, and around the world. A film adaptation of the musical, Matilda the Musical, was released in 2022.
In 2003, Matilda was listed at number 74 in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the British public of the top 200 novels of all time.[1] In 2012, Matilda was ranked number 30 among all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a US monthly.[2] Time magazine named Matilda in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time.[3] In 2012, Matilda Wormwood appeared on a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp.[4]
