How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"You are so much wiser than your years, my dear," Miss Honey went on, "that it quite staggers me. Although you look like a child, you are not really a child at all because your mind and your powers of reasoning seem to be fully grown-up. So I suppose we might call you a grown-up child, if you see what I mean." (17.12)
It's one thing for someone to be identified as really smart or really good at math. It's another for someone to be identified as mature and grown-up. Matilda is only five. But she doesn't look at the world through a five-year-old's eyes. She sees it the way a fully grown-up person would. This means she's more advanced than your average, run-of-the-mill prodigy (if there is such a thing).