Matilda tells the story of a precocious 5-year-old girl with horrible parents. She tortures her parents (they deserve it), befriends her schoolteacher, stands down her evil headmistress, and lives happily ever after. It's very engaging and entertaining, and has just enough outlandish bits to make it really fun. I found it a little strange that Dahl spends most of the novel describing Matilda and her environment, and it's only in the last quarter that the real story arc takes place, but that didn't bother me.

I read Matilda aloud to Kevin (age 6) over the course of a dozen nights' bed-times, and he loved it (especially the "beams-out-of-the-eyes" parts) and wasn't put off by the many British-isms in the language. It was one of the best reading experiences we've had together.