Thursday, June 13, 2013

Blog Tour: Matilda by Roald Dahl 25th Anniversary Feature + Giveaway!

Matilda is turning 25 this year! Kind of unbelievable, right? How can it already be 25 years since this wonderfully witty, intelligent five-year-old sprang onto the literary scene, inspiring all of us to read more and fight the man with our powers of telekinesis (Er, or just wish we had powers of telekinesis)? We’re celebrating this milestone with an epic 25-stop blog tour! Follow along to find out how your favorite bloggers feel about Matilda, and for a chance to win a Matilda prize pack at each and every stop!

Matilda is a genius. Unfortunately, her family treats her like a dolt. Her crooked car-salesman father and loud, bingo-obsessed mother think Matilda's only talent is as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in their miserable lives. But it's not long before the sweet and sensitive child decides to fight back. Faced with practical jokes of sheer brilliance, her parents don't stand a chance.

Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.

“I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it.”

“Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable...”

“It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful."

“In any event, parents never underestimated the abilities of their own children. Quite the reverse. Sometimes it was well nigh impossible for a teacher to convince the proud father or mother that their beloved offspring was a complete nitwit.”

We’re all jealous of Matilda’s amazing abilities to move objects with her mind, but where does it come from? Miss Honey wonders the same thing:

“’A precocious child,’ Miss Honey said, ‘is one that shows amazing intelligence early on. You are an unbelievably precocious child.’

‘Am I really?’ Matilda asked.

‘Of course you are. You must be aware of that. Look at your reading. Look at your mathematics.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’ Matilda said.

Miss Honey marveled at the child’s lack of conceit and self-consciousness.

‘I can’t help wondering,’ she said, ‘whether this sudden ability that has come to you, of being able to move an object without touching it, whether it might have something to do with your brainpower.’

Even if the rest of us never achieve telekinesis, books can give everyone a kind of superpower. Every Thursday, bloggers on the Matilda 25th Anniversary tour will write about what kind of superpower they’ve gained from reading. Add your own superpower in the comments!

Did I gain any superpowers from reading?! Why yes, most definitely I did! And not just one, but many! Some more cool than others, but all of them very useful in every day life!

Would you like to learn more about my superpowers?

Let's do a quick run through:

1) I've developed the extraordinary ability to zone in, tune out everything and everyone around me, and just focus on one thing and one thing only (which 99% of the time applies to reading books, of course!). My husband isn't particularly impressed with this (totally awesome) ability of mine, as he's the one who gets ignored most of the time, but come on.. you surely understand that I can't let him distract me from my reading, right?

This ability proved very useful in other fields of my life, too, like studying, designing graphics and developing websites or even house making - anything that requires being focused and dedicated!

2) I learned to read faster! I know, that isn't something super extraordinary, as many of you are fast readers already, but when I started reading many (MANY) years ago, I was a very slow reader. We're talking one-book-per-month kind of slow. Matilda inspired me to read more and broaden my reading horizons. Last year I've read 130 books. This year I'm on track to read at least 160! :)

3) Finally, one of my favorite superpowers I gained thanks to Matilda has to do with people and relationships. Matilda taught me how to be patient, understanding, open-minded and forgiving. She's the sweetest, kindest, wittiest little girl I've ever met. She's been through a lot, faced many adversities in her life, and yet she never turned bitter, mean or cold. I always admired her sunny personality and intelligent sense of humor. And I always wanted to be like her.

I can honestly say that Matilda taught me a lot! She will always have a special place in my heart (and on my bookshelf), and I feel truly blessed to have *met* her.

Did you know Matilda is now a Tony Award-nominated Broadway Musical? The show opened in April and has already been nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical! Since not everyone can go to New York City to see the show in person, Penguin Teen is bringing the show to you with a Matilda the Musical prize pack giveaway!

Enter to win the following PRIZE PACK:

- a copy of the Matilda the Musical soundtrack

- a Matilda the Musical poster

- a paperback copy of Matilda by Roald Dahl! (the pink one you can see on top of the post)

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to "a wonderful faraway place.” In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939 he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children's books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died children mourned the world over. Matilda was published just two years before he died. Quentin Blake, the first Children's Laureate of the United Kingdom, has illustrated most of Roald Dahl's children's books.