Matilda is amazingly bright. By the time she is five she has taught herself to read and spends long afternoons reading Charles Dickens!

Matilda's parents are too stupid to see that their daughter is brilliant. They think Matilda is just a nuisance and treat her as a scab--a scab to be endured until the time comes to flick her away. Then one day, Matilda discovers she has an extraordinary power and realises she can make a lot of trouble for the grown-ups in her life.