The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in a school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.

The book has been adapted in various media, including audio readings by actresses Joely Richardson, Miriam Margolyes and Kate Winslet; a 1996 feature film Matilda directed by Danny DeVito; a two-part BBC Radio 4 programme; and a 2010–2011 musical Matilda the Musical which ran on the West End in London, Broadway in New York, and around the world.

At the age of five and a half, Matilda enters school and befriends her polite and compassionate teacher Jennifer Honey, who is astonished by her intellectual abilities.

Miss Honey also tries to talk to Mr and Mrs Wormwood about their daughter's intelligence, but they ignore her, with the mother contending "brainy-ness" is an undesirable trait in a little girl.

Matilda quickly develops a particularly strong bond with Miss Honey and watches as Trunchbull terrorises her students with deliberately creative, over-the-top punishments to prevent parents from believing them, such as throwing them in a dark closet dubbed "The Chokey", which is lined with nails and broken glass.

Later, during a sadistic lesson that Miss Trunchbull is teaching, Matilda telekinetically raises a piece of chalk to the blackboard and begins to use it to write, posing as the spirit of Magnus Honey.

She is never seen again, and the next day Miss Honey receives a letter from a local solicitor's office, telling her that her father's lifetime savings were safe in her bank and the property she lived in as a child was left to her.

Trilby becomes the new headmaster, proving himself to be capable and good-natured, overwhelmingly improving the school's atmosphere and curriculum, and quickly moving Matilda into the top-form class with the 11-year-olds.

Matilda continues to visit Miss Honey at her house regularly, returning home one day to find her parents and her older brother Michael hastily packing to leave for Spain.

Dahl's biographer Jeremy Treglown went through the author's documents, including the drafts for the novel, and noted that the American editor Stephen Roxburgh at Farrar, Straus and Giroux had been instrumental in reshaping the story.

[1] In 2012 Matilda was ranked number 30 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily US audience.

The film changed the setting and nationality of every character (except Trunchbull who is played by Welsh actress Pam Ferris) from British to American.

[21] In December 2009, BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial broadcast a two-part adaptation by Charlotte Jones of the novel with Lenny Henry as the Narrator, Lauren Mote as Matilda, Nichola McAuliffe as Miss Trunchbull, Emerald O'Hanrahan as Miss Honey, Claire Rushbrook as Mrs Wormwood and John Biggins as Mr Wormwood.

[33] Celebrating 30 years of the book's publication in October 2018, original illustrator Quentin Blake imagined what Matilda might be doing as a grown-up woman today.

[34] The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie,[35][36] Christopher Paolini,[35] British prime minister Rishi Sunak,[37] Queen Camilla,[37][38] Kemi Badenoch,[39] PEN America,[37] and Brian Cox.

[42][43] One of Miss Trunchbull's punishments is to force an overweight child, Bruce Bogtrotter, to eat an enormous chocolate cake, which makes him so full that he cannot move.

Bruce is a more sympathetic variation of Augustus Gloop (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and similar gluttons, and he is praised for finishing the cake without suffering nausea.