Five-year-old Matilda longs for her parents to be loving and understanding but they are none of these things. Matilda invents a game of punishing them each time they treat her badly and she soon discovers she has supernatural powers. Five-year-old Matilda longs for her parents to be loving and understanding but they are none of these things. Matilda invents a game of punishing them each time they treat her badly and she soon discovers she has supernatural powers. Quentin Blake has illustrated more than three hundred books and was Roald Dahl's favourite illustrator. In 1980 he won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. In 1999 he became the first ever Children's Laureate and in 2013 he was knighted for services to illustration.