Broadway to Books: Matilda

This post was originally part of a larger post published over at Book Bloggers International on July 25, 2016.

Broadway to Books is a (possibly) unique feature that I do that I originated as a guest post (linked above) that was way too long and involved. I have pared it down and am hoping to make it a regular thing. Without further fondue...

MATILDA

Theme: Girls overcoming hard situations and finding their strength (especially against jerk adults)

Matilda is a musical about a 5- year- old bookworm who is neglected by her television- obsessed father and her ball-room dancing obsessed mother.  She teaches herself to read and spends as much time as possible reading through every book at the local library and telling stories to the librarian. She has started telling a story about great circus performers, finds a loving adult in her teacher, and finds an inner power to defeat her mean old principal. Can I tell you that I LOVED LOVED LOVED the sets and musical and just IT ALL about this show.

The Most Obvious book to read if you love this musical is Roald Dahl’s original book titled (drum roll) MATILDA. There is no parallel story of the circus performers but the story is quick and cute.

Less obvious: Seraphina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty is a book about a girl who lives in the basement of a large estate on which her father works on electrical equipment. She doesn’t know why she’s a secret or anything about the rest of her family. She lives there in secret and has perfected the art of being invisible and unseen. But, then, something terrible happens and she has to come out of hiding and find the power to overcome a great darkness, the Black Cloak.

An Even Less Obvious book, if you loved the themes in Matilda, is Dime by E.R. Frank. Dime is a young teen girl who lives in poverty and the general rough life it brings. When she meets a man who says he loves her, she joins his girls who bring money into the family by working the streets. Because she’s smart, she is promoted to helping her man start working a bigger hustle. Dime has to find a way to get herself out of the messiest situation ever and get back to herself.

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