Book review: 'The Matilda Effect Series' by Lynette Charters

Originally published on The JOLT News on November 18, 2025

They say you cannot judge a book by its cover, but if we did judge it on some level, there would be no point of cover art or any visually stimulating foundation to keep a book in tact.

In fact, we need a good cover in order to spark our interests, make us ask questions, and speak to us in less time it takes to read the blurb on the back.

The book cover of “The Matilda Effect Series” by Lynette Charters gives you everything you need to know: it contains one of her own striking pieces of a faceless woman painted onto to a microchip. This woman stands out, but begins to fade into the microchip itself. This is exactly what is happening to the trailblazing and significant women painted into our collective history.

In this “man’s world,” women’s accomplishments get diminished as patriarchal values are forced upon the society. Depending on the administration, stories are purposely removed from museums, textbooks and public conversation.

We are subliminally told to not ask questions, to stop contemplating, debating or doing anything that begs to contradict “his”story. How lucky are we to have people like Charters who live in our county and are continuing to keep history alive through their art.

This book showcases 44 of Charters’ original pieces, each depicting a woman in history painted onto an object related to her story. For instance, that woman on the cover was Hedy Lamarr, who society primarily celebrated as a beautiful actress during the golden age of Hollywood.

Charters celebrates her as an early pioneer of Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies. Each page of this book is compelling, and as I kept turning each page, my conviction grew bigger, stronger and deeper. We need books like this and we cannot let people forget “our story.”

What I love about this book

Each piece contains a short blurb discussing a women’s story, but I truly respect and admire Charters as a writer for perfectly condensing these stories into powerful, punchy, but still digestible captions.

When you are as clearly passionate about this topic as Charters is, that is not an easy task. Another pattern found among these pieces is the word “Missing” in front of each title. This packs in the message that our collective conscious when we think of ordinary items or commonly accepted truths is missing the revere and remembrance for the women who paved the way.

Take the game of “Monopoly.” How many of us keep this very game in a closet, bookcase or coffee table? How often do we play this game? Have you ever participated in the monopoly grocery store game where you get coupons? Have you ever played the game online? I’m guessing the answer to these questions is all of us.

How about this last question: how many of us know that the idea behind the game of Monopoly was created by a woman, nevertheless a woman named Elizabeth Magie Phillips — that’s what I thought. Let this string of questions serve not as a scolding, but as an opening of the doors to curiosity, learning, and honoring. This book is a great place to start your journey.

Charters passion for these topics and conversations presents itself in the artwork itself, and each piece is really beautiful. The attention to detail is lovely, but so is the big picture you see at first glance.

You can see the intentionality and love that went into each piece, and that makes the book feel really meaningful. Charters may not have painted myself into this book, but somehow I feel seen by her as if she did. That is the power of story telling, recounting real history, and of art itself and the messages it tells us. 

Reflections

I spent some time with this book and a good cup of tea, and I let it take me on a journey. I smiled, I gasped, and even had a tear in my eye. This was a lovely way to use my time. I escaped from technology and reconnected with the quintessential little things that make being alive so wonderful.

Book lovers love to smell books, and this book has a good scent. The pages have a lovely texture that is very satisfying when you turn each page, and the visual differences between each piece of art are eye-catching and captivating.

I loved it, and I think you will too.

You can find this book either at the LGM Studios fair (read about that here), directly from Charters, or coming soon to the Childhood’s End Gallery.

https://www.thejoltnews.com/stories/a-review-of-the-matilda-effect-series-by-lynette-charters,27092?