The Precocious BrainMatilda, Matilda, Matilda. Girl, you are so smart. We mean smart on smart. Shmoop only wishes we were as smart as Matilda is when we were five. Matilda is exceptionally good at...

The MentorMiss Jennifer Honey was a mild and quiet person who never raised her voice and was seldom seen to smile, but there is no doubt she possessed that rare gift for being adored by every small...

Mean, Meaner, Meanest Oh boy. If there's a shortlist of fictional characters we wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley, the Trunchbull is probably right at the top. She might be the scariest Hea...

Looks Aren't DeceivingMaybe the best way to introduce a character like Mr. Wormwood, who's so vivid and slimy, is to let the narrator do it himself: In came Mr. Wormwood in a loud check suit and a...

Thank goodness Matilda meets Mrs. Phelps at the library! Finally, a sane adult who doesn't treat Matilda as though she's a total nuisance. Unlike the other grown-ups in Matilda's life, Mrs. Phelps...

Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's mother, is one of the villains in the books, but she pales in comparison with the two other villains: Matilda's father and the Trunchbull. Mrs. Wormwood is a bad mother, bu...

Hortensia is the older girl that Matilda and Lavender meet during one of their first recess periods at Crunchem Hall. She's about twice their age, already ten, and a veteran of battles with the Tru...

The Boys with the Wrong AnswersDespite the Trunchbull's comment that small girls are more evil than small boys—"'a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. What's more, they're m...