Matilda
Caution. Age: 9+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Dahl loves books and loves the kind, brave Miss Honey, and so will children. The headmistress gets the justice she has earned. The trouble is the spirit of the thing. Matilda answers her father's cruelty with revenge pranks the book cheers, and her parents are drawn as fools to despise. At the end she leaves them gladly and they do not care. Children laugh along with contempt for the family.
For parents
Read it aloud from 8; a child can read it alone from 9. Common Sense says 8 and up. Read it with your child so you can talk. Ask whether gluing a hat to Dad's head was right, even though he was unkind. Ask what the Fourth Commandment asks of us when parents fail (CCC 2217). Miss Honey is the one to imitate.