Tiny Treasury

I am soooo a child of the 80s. I wore rubber bracelets. I wore crinoline skirts with high tops. I had about a zillion brightly colored scarves strategically tied around my wrists, in my hair, you name it. Neon colors popped out of my closet. My earrings never matched. I wanted to be Madonna.

At the age of 30-something, I still want to be Madonna. And not pop star Madonna. I want to be self-assured, business-woman, mother, successfully published author Madonna. That’s right, Madonna has gone all respectable on us.

I realize, on some level, this is “old news”. But not really. When The English Roses came out about three years ago, I thought it was a flash in the pan. I figured that it was Madonna re-inventing herself and that this new “children’s book author Madonna” would fade away. I was wrong.

Madonna has gone on to author several more children’s books (the English Roses Collection consists of five: The English Roses, Mr. Peabody’s Apples, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The Adventures of Abdi, and Lotsa de Casha) and has a website dedicated to promoting the books. I have to say, the web site is extremely cute. Like the illustrations in the books, the website illustrations are very 60s fashion pop in nature. There’s an About page, which explains why Madonna wrote the books in the first place, information about the characters in the books and a fun and games section with coloring pages and more. And of course, it would be the Material Girl’s site without a shop where you can buy books, fashion items and more.

In 2006, Madonna updated the original English Roses book with the version, The English Roses: Too Good to Be True. In keeping with her international stature, the book was translated into several languages including Chichewa, the national language of Malawi. Malawi is, of course, the country where Madonna visited last fall to adopt a child, one year old David Banda.

Last year was also the first time that I took a peek at the books. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Did I love them? No. Did I hate them? No. The illustrations are delightful - Jeffrey Fulvimari is really very talented. The characters are cute and the dialogue is well done. And the stories do have a point, the overreaching theme in each book is a moral. In The English Roses, the moral is “… in the future, you might think twice before grumbling that someone else has a better life than you” no doubt geared at those folks who think that Madonna and daughter Lourdes have a picture-perfect life. I think the moral comes across as a little preachy - and maybe it’s because it’s Madonna. I’m willing to admit that I have a hard time believing that Lourdes leads anything but a pretty cushy life, and that taints my view of the book. A fair assessment? Of course not - but it’s kind of like if I read a romance novel from Steven King - I’d totally be expecting one of the protagonists to be revealed as an axe murderer. And with Madonna? Well expecting tolerance and humility from a woman who, as a tween, I watched reveal that her goal was to “rule the world” is kind of difficult. A little ironic, considering the whole point of her book is about not being so judgmental. Maybe I should read up a bit? At any rate, my view of the book, like that of many, is tainted by her celebrity. On the other hand, I suspect that her celebrity was directly responsible for the book being published. Quite the catch-22.

All of that said, the books are an enjoyable outing. If your kids are looking for a sweet story, beautifully drawn, you might want to take a peek. It’s not great literature but I suspect the kids won’t complain.

Madonna, The English Roses, Mr. Peabody’s Apples, The Adventures of Abdi, Lotsa de Casha, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The English Roses: Too Good to be True, Jeffrey Fulvimari, Chichewa