2. Characters 1: a couple (Who) Mr and Mrs Wormwood (meaning of the words worm and wood…and wormwood which has a distinctive taste, there’s also a special w’ sound making them unpleasant) Do you remember their first names (Harry and Zinnia) They worship TV (2:8), an attitude radically different to the expected one.

3. Character 2 An ordinary little boy, Michael (1:6) Not much is said about him yet.

4. Character 3 Matilda She’s clever, very clever (1:9) She’s a child prodigy (2:1) who could read at 3 She’s left alone ‘nearly every afternoon’ She discovers the library

5. Character 4 Mrs Phelps The librarian, Mrs Phelps (a typical British name) She was surprised by Matilda (2:13, 2:25, 2:28, 3:5) She was helpful (2:16)

6. Where At home alone At the library In England

7. When Between Matilda’s birth and the age of 5

8. What: Matilda’s (Roald Dahl’s) literary choice First Great Expectations, by Dickens (2:32) Ernest Hemingway (Green Hills of Africa) Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Book) The use of libraries (3:6-7)

9. Why: Strange parents Normal parents are strange: they normally love their children unconditionnally (1:1-3) Matilda’s parents are ‘much worse’ (1:5) Mr and Mrs Wormwood simply pay no attention to their daughter (1:8) They run an unimportant business(1:8)

10. How We are witnessing the development of a character, a very bright little girl We feel sorry for her We are surprised (see the emphasis of this word when we are dealing with Mrs Phelps.