The Matilda Effect by Ellie Irving
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My Thoughts after Reading
This is a fun book. Matilda’s journey with her grandmother is a lighted and far-fetched roller-coaster ride. They go from one situation to another, meeting memorable characters along the way.
Matilda reminded me very much of the main character in Vote for Effie. She is creative and resourceful. This world is too small for a trail-blazer like her. Living with her organised parents is stifling her. She had a grandfather who understood her. But without him she is finding it hard to be herself. Fortunately for her, her grandmother comes out of her shell and reveals her past.
This is a story inspired by injustices of the past, the author cites a couple of real-life examples at the end of the book. What I also like about this book is the relationship between grandmother and grand-daughter – they needed each other to be true to themselves.
I learnt something new here. When I see the name Matilda on a book cover, I think of Roald Dahl‘s Matilda, an intelligent girl. After finishing this book, I thought our main character here was just as intelligent, but I wished the author had come up with a more creative name. What I hadn’t realised was The Matilda Effect is a real term coined to describe males getting the glory for women scientists’ achievements.
This is a good read for the younger end of middle-grade readers.
Goodreads Blurb
Matilda loves science and inventing. Her heroes are Marie Curie, Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison, and one day she wants to be a famous inventor herself. So when she doesn’t win the school science fair, she’s devastated – especially as the judges didn’t believe she’d come up with her entry on her own. Because she’s a girl.
When Matilda shares her woes with her Grandma Joss, she’s astonished to learn her grandma was once a scientist herself – an astrophysicist, who discovered her very own planet. Trouble is, Grandma Joss was also overlooked – her boss, Professor Smocks, stole her discovery for himself. And he’s about to be presented with a Nobel Prize.
Matilda concocts a plan. They’ll crash the award ceremony and tell everyone the truth! So begins a race against time – and against Matilda’s strict mum and dad! – on a journey through Paris, Hamburg and Stockholm, and on which they encounter a famous film star, a circus, and a wanted diamond thief…
Justine Laismith 