Sooooo this one was tough. It was odd, in a heavy and unrelenting regional dialect. Without spoilers, it's unremittingly bleak at the end with a lot of death. And the central plot is about two different men in different ways really forcing themselves on an innocent, nature-loving girl. There is content referencing intimate relations which is wildly inappropriate for children. There are quite a lot of very long, very beautiful descriptions of the British countryside which has

Well! Jane was quite a read. I begin with a confession: it was my school set text in Year 8 and I read no further than Chapter 8, all year, and answered the entire exam on other people's revision notes only. Do I recommend this as a course of action? No. Do I see why I stopped reading at Chapter 8 back in 1998? YES. Oh my goodness how bleak is the beginning? More orphans (is Roald Dahl obsessed with orphan stories? Or were there only ever orphan stories published? What is the

This was MEGA LOLZ! Jane knew her stuff. It was another of my (few) re-reads and it held up so much to my memory of just loving reading it. It's not too long. It's pacy. It's very, very sharply funny, and just a lovely love story in the end. There is a lot of social context that needs explaining for a reader in 2026! It is contemporary Austen's writing, turn of the 1800s so Georgian England. You don't need me to tell you that much more about it - you've read it and/or seen th

Soooooo this will be a short one. This book was not my favourite. In my opinion it is very dated. The language is pretty impenetrable, very dialogue-heavy and hard to follow. The social attitudes of the time take a lot of explaining to an adult, let alone to a child. This one does not go on my 2026 list of adult classics to recommend to Matilda, or any child reading at age 8-12ish. Perhaps if a teenager was studying the Victorian time period, it might be some deep secondary r

Book two done! A re-read for me so much quicker than Dickens. Plus it’s under 100 pages PLUS much more straightforward text. Does it hold up? I would absolutely recommend this to a child reader. The language is all manageable with a few stretch words. The story is compelling on the surface and also as the fable. Some middle-grade readers will have a comprehension of the historical references already and get more out of the book in that way. For some, it might open up that dis

Book one - COMPLETE! I've never read Great Expectations before, but it's the first book Matilda reads from the grown-up section of the library so I had to. It's long. 554 pages! Althought Matilda's edition is 411 pages so hers was either a large hardback or a much smaller font. DID I LIKE IT? Yes! Everyone says Pip is one of Dickens' greatest characters. Did you know the book is in three volumes? Volume one - childhood. Pip is naive. Volume two - becoming a gentleman. Pip is

Matilda read the following classics recommended by her marvellous librarian, Mrs Phelps. How many have you read? I have... read three seen screen/stage adaptations of two more never heard of three supposed to read another one for school but never got past chapter 8 I bet you've done more than me! I'll pick books to read throughout the year and set up some way for us to chat about them. If you've already read one, no need to read again! Can't wait to hear what you think about

My 2026 hobby is going to be reading Matilda's reading list - will you join me? You know! In Chapter One of Matilda by Roald Dahl, Mrs Phelps the librarian helps Matilda with what to read next, after she has finished all the books in the Children's section. The Secret Garden was her favourite of all. Mrs Phelps suggests Great Expectations and then over the next six months: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë