If I had my way, I'd remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.

I never get any protests from children. All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.

I am suspicious of both facility and speed.

You mean you live down here?' Matilda asked. 'I do', Miss Honey replied, but she said no more. Matilda had never once stopped to think about where Miss Honey might be living. She had always regarded her purely as a teacher, a person who turned up out of nowhere and taught at school and then went away again.

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.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.

There is no place I know that compares to pure imagination.