Miss Honey
Matilda was a little late in starting school. Most children begin Primary School at five or even just
before, but Matilda's parents, who weren't very concerned one way or the other about their
daughter's education, had forgotten to make the proper arrangements in advance. She was five and
a half when she entered school for the first time.
The village school for younger children was a bleak¹ brick building called Crunchem Hall Primary
School. It had about two hundred and fifty pupils aged² from five to just under twelve years old.
The head teacher, the boss, the supreme³ commander of this establishment was a formidable
middle-aged⁴ lady whose name was Miss Trunchbull.
Naturally Matilda was put in the bottom class, where there were eighteen other small boys and
girls about the same age as her. Their teacher was called Miss Honey, and she could not have been
more than twenty-three or twenty-four. She had a lovely pale oval madonna face with blue eyes
and her hair was light-brown. Her body was so slim and fragile one got the feeling that if she fell
over she would smash into a thousand pieces, like a porcelain⁵ figure.
Miss 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 possessed⁶ that rare gift for being adored by every small child
under her care. She seemed to understand totally the bewilderment and fear that so often
overwhelms young children who for the first time in their lives are herded⁷ into a classroom and
told to obey orders. Some curious warmth that was almost tangible⁸ shone out of Miss Honey's face
when she spoke

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