1.) What reason do you think Mr. Watts has for inviting the children's parents to speak in the classroom.

Mr. Watts invites the children's parents to the classroom to teach them something that they are familiar with, such as cooking and the cycle of the may fly. Everyone is made to feel as though they contributed.

2.) Why do you think Matilda says that she will have to choose between Mr. Watts and her mother?


Matilda was engulfed in the book they were reading and the story from the book was co-existing to her with the real world. The story had nothing to do with her mom, so she would have to choose between real or make-believe. She believes more in Mr. Pip then her mother's strong beliefs in God.

3.) What does Matilda's mother mean when she says that Mr. Watts is "the offspring of a shining cuckoo"? Why does she call him 'pop eye' instead of Mr. Watts?

Matilda's mother references Mr. Watts to the shining cuckoo because of her hatred towards him since he was white and white men had named Matilda, started the mines trouble and tooken away her father. The reference is how at a certain time of the year they leave their home and head for strange territory, they find a nest and boo out the eggs of the host bird and lay their own eggs before flying off. This implys that the white men come overseas, leave their mark and advance to another new territory to do it again.

4.) What do you think Mr. Watts means when he says that he hoped his wife might ventually grow into her name?

When Mr. Watts is telling Matilda his big secret, he brings up his wife. Grace, originally named Sheba had to take on a new persona when her name changed due to "certain events". I think this may have been because was black and she wanted to take on a white name to "fit in" better.