Read the classics with Matilda

Hoorah! It’s World Book Day once again (or at least very soon to be).

Whether you’re dressing up as your favourite Roald Dahl character or simply settling down with a favourite story, there’s no better day to be inspired to pick up a new book.

After a little inspiration? Who better than Matilda herself to offer just that! Anyone who's read Matilda's story will know that before she set foot in Crunchem Hall and encountered the Trunchbull, she spent her days in a cosy corner of her local library, devouring one classic after another, such as:

• Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley
• Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
• The Red Pony by John Steinbeck 

Oh, and if you’re wondering which was her favourite, it turns out Matilda had a soft spot for The Secret Garden.