Matilda Mudpuddle looked in the mirror and had a big shock. “I’ve gone!” she exclaimed in alarm. “I’ve disappeared. I’ve left the face of the earth!”
Matilda is very special. Whenever she eats one of the delicacies her grandfather brings back from his trips overseas, she develops a new special ability. When he brings back bright blue jelly babies from the Bahamas, Matilda discovers that eating one turns her invisible for three hours. She decides to use the new power to get up to all sorts of mischief – from tricking people in the supermarket, to tickling the school principal during a long, boring speech. But her grandfather wants her to also use her special powers to help people and, when she and her mother are caught up in a bank robbery, she sees her opportunity.
The Invisible Matilda Mudpuddle and Matilda Mudpuddle and the X-ray Eyes are two new titles in the Matilda Mudpuddle series. Each book features Matilda having adventures with a new special ability, each of which is limited in time – the invisibility only lasts till she’s eaten the last jelly baby, whilst her x-ray vision lasts for a month. Each chapter features a new adventure with the relevant ability, so that each can be read as a self-contained adventure, making them accessible to slow readers.
This is a fun series which will appeal to kids aged 7 to 9.
Matilda Mudpuddle and the X-ray Eyes and The Invisible Matilda Mudpuddle, by Gordon Winch, illustrated by Dee Texidor
New Frontier Publishing, 2006