This bilingual post was originally written for social media, and is part of the “7 day book cover challenge.”
「7日間のブックカバーチャレンジ（1日目）：『マチルダは小さな大天才』」
この投稿は、もとはSNSのブックカバーチャレンジのために書かれたものです。英語の本文の後に日本語が続きます。
I’ve spent way too long agonizing about the seven-day book cover challenge, which I know is only meant to be fun! The more I saw posts from friends about unique book selections, the more embarrassed I felt about how much I haven’t read recently, especially for someone who professes to love words. But I’ve decided to choose seven books that have meant the most to me in my life. After moving a dozen times, most of these books are buried way deep in a box somewhere in the attic of my parents’ house, so I’ve borrowed the cover photos from online.
In somewhat chronological order that I’ve read them, the first book is Roald Dahl’s Matilda. I read almost every children’s book by Dahl. I think I first learned about him when my third grade teacher, Ms. Kakugawa, read us The Witches–which was a bit scary but very thrilling. The first book I (or rather, my parents!) bought was Fantastic Mr. Fox, then the collection grew from there. Even after my parents and I moved to Tokyo when I was nine years old, my father continued to buy Dahl’s books whenever he went to the U.S. on business trips, and so they were some of the few English language books I could continue to read in Japan.
What makes Dahl’s books wonderful are how much children are empowered, even when their circumstances are less than ideal. When I grew older and began reading Charles Dickens, I recognized so many common themes: the difficult childhoods, mean adults, and amazing naming sense (Miss Trunchbull and Uriah Heep should belong in the same world–just imagining their encounter makes me chuckle!). And Quentin Blake’s illustrations are simply wonderful! They are so simple and cute, but somehow convey the personality of the characters.
While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and more are all iconic, Matilda is my favorite. She’s a (somewhat socially awkward) bibliophile who finds happiness in the end. I’ve thought back often to the list of books that Matilda read— but I still haven’t caught up! A few years ago, I got to see a musical version of the book, and that was great, too (my favorite is this song), especially its fun play on all the alphabets)!
As an adult, I’ve learned about some of the controversies that surround Dahl, and that saddens me. Still, I like how feminist Matilda is–it’s about a young girl who stands up for herself, along with the help of a woman mentor (Miss Honey). It brought me so much joy as a child, and I hope I can do the same for others someday.
*****
友人からいただいた「7日間のブックカバーチャレンジ」。他の方の素晴らしいセレクションを見て、最近読書から離れてしまっていることを恥ずかしく思うとともに、7冊に絞ることに随分長いこと悩んでしまいましたが、勇気を出して、自分のこれまでの人生にとって重要な7冊を選んでみました。ほとんどの本が実家にあるので、オンラインから借りた写真で代用します。
1日目はロアルド・ダールの『マチルダはちいさな大天才』。ダールの児童向けの本はほぼ全部読みましたが、本好きでちょっと孤独な主人公に共感しました。日本に引っ越してからも、出張でアメリカに行くたびに父がせっせと買ってくれたので、日本でも細々と英語の読書を続けることができました。
『マチルダ』は静かながらも強い女性が何人も登場して、とても素敵です。子供の頃私が元気をもらえたように、私もいつか文章を通じて誰かを励ますことができたら、と思います。