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Matilda Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Roald Dahl (Author), Kate Winslet (Narrator), Listening Library (Publisher)
4.8 out of 5 stars 21,832 ratings
Teachers' pick

Now a musical!

Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a menacing, kid-hating headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!

Here is Roald Dahl's original novel of a little girl with extraordinary powers. This much-loved story has recently been made into a wonderful new musical, adapted by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin.

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  1. Listening Length
    4 hours and 18 minutes
  2. Author
    Roald Dahl
  3. Narrator
    Kate Winslet
  4. Audible release date
    June 13, 2013
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Listening Library
  7. ASIN
    B00DD4LVCG
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 4 hours and 18 minutes
Author Roald Dahl
Narrator Kate Winslet
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date June 13, 2013
Publisher Listening Library
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B00DD4LVCG
Best Sellers Rank #1,795 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#4 in Fiction Classics for Children
#23 in Children's Classics
#23 in Fantasy & Magic for Children

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
21,832 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book entertaining and suitable for kids of all ages, particularly noting it's a great story to read aloud. The book features vivid character descriptions and a smoothly planned plot with surprising twists, while maintaining a witty tone throughout. Customers praise the writing style, with one noting the perfect language, and appreciate the intelligent protagonist who is smarter than most adults. The language receives mixed reviews - while customers appreciate the vocabulary, some mention the language can be a bit rough.

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139 customers mention "Fun read"139 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, describing it as a silly fun bedtime story and a real joy to read.

"...This book is inspirational and filled with laughter. Children who like fun and heartwarming stories will enjoy this story." Read more

"...Not only is his style easily accessible and lively, but he sides with his young audience through his writing, He draws the characters of Miss..." Read more

"...I love that because it’s more entertaining to visualize the story in a familiar way as I’m reading...." Read more

"Fun, cute book. Nostalgic for me as an adult who loved Roald Dahl as a kid. Still holds up all these years!" Read more

120 customers mention "Readability"120 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, particularly as a read-aloud for children, with multiple customers noting it's suitable for kids of all ages and works well in classroom settings.

"...his style easily accessible and lively, but he sides with his young audience through his writing, He draws the characters of Miss Trunchbull and..." Read more

"...Miss Honey is very nice to kids of all ages. She is a very sweet person. Miss Honey is Matilda’s Kindergarten teacher...." Read more

"...return gift for my son's birthday party, and it was a big hit with the 9-year-old recipient...." Read more

"...Great for kids and adults." Read more

62 customers mention "Character development"58 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the vivid descriptions of characters in the book, finding them strong and funny, with one customer noting the detailed character portrayals.

"...In spite of her sensitive and brilliant mind, she is a character who engages our sympathies...." Read more

"...book was one of the greatest books I have ever read because it was so detailed and it was so fun to read!..." Read more

"I love Roald Dahl and I absolutely adored this book and the character. It’s a perfect mix of horrible and magic!!" Read more

"...The story is full of magic, heart, and strong characters that teach valuable lessons about courage and kindness...." Read more

44 customers mention "Storyline"38 positive6 negative

Customers appreciate the storyline of the book, describing it as brilliantly captivating with a smoothly planned plot and brisk pacing that leads to a great conclusion.

"...The story gets exciting when Matilda finds out Miss Trunchbull had done something really bad to Miss Honey and Matilda decides to get revenge...." Read more

"Classic story, short chapters, easy to read and the movie follows the book pretty close. I don’t like convoluted writing...." Read more

"...empathetic, sweet, overly-intelligent, and compact grown-up who catches on quickly. She doesn't seem much like a child at all...." Read more

"...music now and also look forward to learning how the musical storyline compares to the book." Read more

39 customers mention "Humor"39 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, finding it equally funny and witty, with one customer noting its great sentence structure.

"...The illustrations in the paperback I bought were hilariously funny and descriptive of the main characters in such a way that I laughed throughout..." Read more

"...The book is indeed very engaging, featuring a great mix of humor and clever writing. However, it's worth noting that this is a paperback edition...." Read more

"...It is fun and funny, heartwarming and touching. Is it perfect? No. But I'll take a billion imperfectly perfect books just like it." Read more

"...And everyone became happy. I love this book, because it's really funny...." Read more

29 customers mention "Intelligence"24 positive5 negative

Customers praise Matilda's intelligence, noting that she is smarter than most adults and has amazing abilities.

"...In spite of her sensitive and brilliant mind, she is a character who engages our sympathies...." Read more

"...Matilda is a really smart kid. She is smarter than every kid in her school. She has read all the books in the local library...." Read more

"...Matilda is an empathetic, sweet, overly-intelligent, and compact grown-up who catches on quickly. She doesn't seem much like a child at all...." Read more

"...Now she reads it to me! My daughter loves the smart, polite, yet mischievous Matilda...." Read more

28 customers mention "Writing style"28 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, noting it is written in British English and praising the author Roald Dahl, with one customer highlighting the maturity in his children's writing.

"...a work that shows Dahl at the top of his game, at the pinnacle of his writing career, and sums up all that his children's writing has come to stand..." Read more

"Purchased in the Paperback version this copy of Matilda is written in British English with illustrations from one of the best, Quentin Blake...." Read more

"...It’s above her reading level, but it gets her engaged and recognizing words while holding the paper copy." Read more

"...clean, like brand new, on time, and in very good as new condition, English, and 1st edition from top to bottom, inside and out, as shown and told." Read more

30 customers mention "Language"10 positive20 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the language in the book, with some praising its great use of vocabulary, while others note that the English idiom can be strange and find the dialogue stilted.

"...The dialog is often stilted and unrealistic. Yes, I know it's a fantasy, but the characters should still speak like real human beings...." Read more

"...age of 5 Matilda could master complex multiplications, read all the children's fiction in her local library and even works from authors such as..." Read more

"...four stars but the characterization wasn’t strong enough, there was no nuance. I think children deserve that. It’s also light on the action...." Read more

"It is a good book and good quality.the book has a few bad words. But it is still a great book!" Read more

Matilda good book
5 out of 5 stars
Matilda good book
Good book, my son got it for school to read during free time and for quiz.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • C. Jimenez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and laughs
    Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Matilda written by Roald Dahl is a story about a gifted five year old girl named Matilda, who lived with terrible parents that didn't know how special their daughter was. Until, one day she goes to school and meets Miss Honey. Miss Honey is a caring teacher who from day one realized just how brilliant Matilda was. There she also meets the horrific headmistress Miss Trunchbull who hates children and treats Miss Honey awful. In the middle of the novel Matilda realized she has powers to defend herself and others too. She uses these powers against the evil principal Miss Trunchbull. The story gets exciting when Matilda finds out Miss Trunchbull had done something really bad to Miss Honey and Matilda decides to get revenge.

    I would recommend this book to boys and girls ages six through ten.This book is inspirational and filled with laughter. Children who like fun and heartwarming stories will enjoy this story.
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  • Yi-Peng
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Pinnacle of Dahl's Children's Novels
    Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    All of Roald Dahl's key works contain common features that make his books special and unique. Apart from gripping tales of the unexpected, the key reason for their appeal is in the treatment of the baddies in the story. However, Dahl counters this rollicking, uproarious and wicked humour with deep relationships between the young protagonist and a sensible grown-up in his social circle. This theme features throughout most if not all his works, and was first introduced when he wrote Danny, the Champion of the World (Puffin Novels), maturing when Dahl wrote The BFG, The Witches (Puffin Novels)and Matilda.

    On the surface, Matilda may be a gripping yarn that revolves around Matilda's environment of Crunchem Hall Primary School and the domain of fearsome Miss Trunchbull, arguably the most revolting villain that Dahl ever created. This harks back to his own dark days as a student. As with all his books, Dahl keeps his audience of young readers in mind. Not only is his style easily accessible and lively, but he sides with his young audience through his writing, He draws the characters of Miss Trunchbull and Matilda's repulsive parents such that they convey revolting personas and you wouldn't want to befriend them. Dahl particularly draws the character of the Trunchbul effectively such that we readers can really feel her as a "holy terror that frightend the life out of the pupils and teachers alike". I admit that this book dwells a little too much on the Trunchbull's torturous punishments, but these only serve to make the Trunchbull more real. A signature twist to make this a tale of the unexpected is when Miss Honey reveals that Matilda's father was a crook who sold stolen cars.

    However, the understated core of the book should be Matilda herself and her relationship with Miss Honey. His portrayal of this relationship offers distinct echoes of Danny's relationship with his father in Danny the Champion of the World. From the moment that Dahl first introduces us to Matilda's maturity, we know that we are getting to know an extraordinary little girl. In spite of her sensitive and brilliant mind, she is a character who engages our sympathies. Matilda always strives to break free of the thrall of her crooked family, especially her father, who acts and talks like a gangster towards her. Matilda strikes up an acquaintence with Miss Honey and quickly learns of Miss Honey's situation. She is then able to do things in her power to help her and restore her rightful claim to her father's inheritance. This may appear to be self-interest on Matilda's part, but sshe does this because she shows a genuine sympathy to Miss Honey's plight.

    In short, this swansong in Dahl's long children's novels stands as an undisputed masterwork and demonstrates the maturity in Dahl's children's writing. It's truly a work that shows Dahl at the top of his game, at the pinnacle of his writing career, and sums up all that his children's writing has come to stand for. (Apparently he spent 20 years writing this book.) Although I could have done with less coverage of the Trunchbull's cruelty, this book is still an undisputed Dahl classic that deserves to be up there with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The BFG.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Stephanie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Matilda is a good, funny book
    Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    You should read Matilda by Roald Dahl it will make you feel happy. They talk funny, like calling the principal the headmistress, but that did not bother me. It is a good book. Boys should read it. Girls should read it. Grown-ups should read it. Only people that hate children and are principals that pick kids up by their ears and throw them around should not read this book.

    Matilda is a nice kid and lives in a big and nice house. Her dad is a bad guy and he buys stolen cars and fixes them up. Matilda’s mom goes out to bingo every day and leaves her home alone. Matilda is a really smart kid. She is smarter than every kid in her school. She has read all the books in the local library. The coolest thing about Matilda is that she can move stuff with her eyes. Really. Listen to this from the book: “She concentrated the whole of her mind and her brain and her will up into her eyes….and then the millions of tiny invisible arms with hands on them were shooting towards the glass, and without making any sound at all she kept on shouting inside her head for the glass to go over. She saw it wobble, then it tilted, then it toppled right over and fell with a tinkle on the table-top not twelve inches from Miss Honey’s folded arms.”

    Miss Honey is very nice to kids of all ages. She is a very sweet person. Miss Honey is Matilda’s Kindergarten teacher. She wants to put Matilda in a class where she will actually learn something new. Miss Trunchbull would not allow that. So Miss Honey went to the other teachers and got Matilda some books to read. She let Matilda read during class. Miss Honey tries to protect the children. She says in the book: “A word of warning to you all … The Headmistress is very strict about everything. Make sure your clothes are clean, your faces are clean and your hands are clean. Speak only when spoken to. When she asks you a question, stand up at once before you answer it. Never argue with her. Never answer back. Never try to be funny. If you do you will make her angry, and when the Headmistress gets angry you had better watch out.” She tries to protect them but needs Matilda’s help.

    Miss Trunchbull is the principal of the school Matilda goes to. Miss Trunchbull is very mean to children. She picks them up by their ears and throws them around. She also picks them up by their hair and holds them there until they do what she says. She always screams at children instead of talking. The worst thing is that she does things so crazy that the school kid’s parents will never believe what the kids say and Miss Trunchbull will never get in trouble. But the very worst part is that she is the aunt of Matilda’s teacher, Miss Honey. Matilda always outsmarts Miss Trunchbull. Matilda made the chalk of the blackboard move by using her eyes. She made Miss Trunchbull think the ghost of Miss Honey’s father wrote her a note. It scared her so much she ran away.

    Roald Dahl wrote the book so it made me think I was really there. When he was 8 the principal hit him with a stick for putting a dead mouse in a jawbreaker jar. He was sent to boarding school and he missed his mom very much. He used his real life experience to make his book so very good.
    28 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Roberto RANIERI
    5.0 out of 5 stars MATILDA (Canada)
    Reviewed in Italy on August 14, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Il libro contiene una simpatica storia di fantasia, certamente adatta ai lettori più giovani. Il fatto che il testo è scritto in originale inglese, viene usato facilmente come esercizio linguistico fra gli adolescenti, studenti che devono esercitarsi a leggere, pronunciare e capire l'inglese intanto come lingua da studiare a scuola. Il mio ordine era infatti finalizzato per aderire ai suggerimenti e ai compiti estivi che la scuola di mia nipote ha fornito quest'anno. Ringrazio per la solerte, quasi immediata, fornitura del libro. Saluti cordialissimi. R. Ranieri.
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  • Stefanie Müller
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tolles Buch, toller Autor - einfach Klasse für Kinder und Erwachsene
    Reviewed in Germany on February 24, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Ich habe dieses Buch mit sehr viel Freude gelesen. Es ist ein fantastisches Geschenk für Kinder ab etwa 6/7 Jahren und auch gut zum Englisch lernen geeignet, aber auch für Erwachsene ist es ein tolles Buch!
    Es beschreibt das Leben der kleinen Matilda Wormwood, die sowohl gegen ihre Eltern als auch ihre Schulleiterin Miss Trunchbull kämpfen muss und letztlich von ihrer warmherzigen Lehrerin Miss Honey adoptiert wird. Matilda ist außergewöhnlich klug und entwickelt ungeahnte Kräfte um so gegen erwachsene Tyrannen vorgehen zu können. Das Buch stammt aus Roald Dahls Feder und ist wie die meisten sehr Kinderbücher fabelhaft!
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  • Rabab Askari
    5.0 out of 5 stars book
    Reviewed in the United Arab Emirates on September 11, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    interesting book
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  • Mr. S. E. Johnson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A book that inspires you to love books. Sounds perfect? It just about is
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    The several regular readers of my reviews – and now that I have my own blog, I know how many (or few) there are – will know that I recently participated in a challenge to ‘read a book set in another world’. This gave me an opportunity to rediscover the work of Roald Dahl, whose books I adored as a child and which are now being loved by my 8 and 6-year-old nephew and niece all over again.

    So when I saw that the next challenge was to ‘read a children’s classic’, there was really only one choice. To re-read what was absolutely my favourite Dahl book of them all: Matilda.

    Why? Several reasons. The characters are just – there’s no other word – perfect. Matilda herself, the astonishingly gifted and yet modest child prodigy who had taught herself to read by the time she was three and do long multiplications by the age of five. Matilda’s weaselly parents, her father in particular, who is so self-absorbed in his own (misguided) belief that he is a genius that he fails to even notice the amazing talents of his daughter right under his nose. The formidable headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who, in common with many other Dahl baddies, manages to be terrifying and yet hilarious at the same time. And the wonderful teacher Miss Honey, who is the first adult to appreciate Matilda for who she is and treat her almost as an equal. Even though your own children’s talents are more modest, don’t you want them to have a teacher like that?

    Then there’s the storyline. Matilda’s little acts of mischief to get back at adults who have behaved unfairly towards her had my nephew – and probably me at a similar age – rubbing his hands together in glee. (Though if he ever tries any of them on me, I may have to do a Trunchbull myself and throw him out of a window.)

    This though, for me, is why Matilda is just so special. It manages like nothing else I’ve read before or since to convey the wonderful power of reading. I remember first reading it at the age of 10 or so and being inspired to read Animal Farm by George Orwell and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. (I think I tried something by Dickens as well, but he proved to be well out of my league. He probably still is.) Dahl’s own critique of CS Lewis, as voiced through the words of a small child, is nothing less than brilliant.

    But perhaps most of all, I just love, love, love this quote:

    “The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”

    Having read it again as an adult, I actually feel a bit disappointed in myself that I haven’t read anything by Hemingway or Kipling. But this just shows how long the written word can continue to inspire. Thanks entirely to Dahl, more than 30 years after his death, I may have to do something about that.
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  • Client d'Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Super histoire
    Reviewed in France on November 10, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Roald Dahl est un super auteur. Dans cette histoire, une petite fille surdoué rencontre des difficultés à l’école. Elle va se rendre compte qu’en plus d’être intelligente, elle possède une capacité très singulière. Niveau anglais B1-B2
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