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The English Roses

The English Roses

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Children's Charity, My Foot
Review: For those of you going on about how the profits of these books are going to "charity", you might want to know that the charity involved is the school Madonna's own little "English Rose", Lourdes attends. Not exactly helping the underprivledged.

Phony charity, phony book. All these blasted celebrities seem to think that writing children's books is easy. Sure it is--unless you want to write a GOOD book.

For those of you who want a poorly written, beautifully illustrated morality fable with the added excitement that it was written by a CELEBRITY, here it is. For those of you who want quality fiction (and as a librarian and a mom, I can't see why any parent would want any less for their child) look elsewhere.

And if you want to buy celebrity books, buy something by Jamie Lee Curtis. She at least, can really write!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The English Roses
Review: I am so sorry to hear that Ms. Madonna wrote this book, because she thought there was a lack of good children's books. I work in a library and I can guarantee her that there are wonderful books out there that teach great moral lessons. If Ms. Madonna didn't find them, that either shows 1) she has very poor research skills 2) she was dumb enough not to check with a children's librarian.

The illustrations are great the book is mediocre.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AMAZING!
Review: this book is wonderful!

the topic of the book is jealousy. It is about these girls called the english roses who are jealous of the seemingly perfect new girl in school name binah. until a fairy teaches them what it's like to be someone else. The illustrations are beutiful! and i reccommend this to everyone!!!! this book will teach lessons to small children everywhere and madonna can actually write!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: An insult to anyone who truly loves children's stories
Review: I have tried to read this book twice to my girls (who received it as a birthday present), but was not able to make it beyond cliches like "skin like milk and honey" and the narrative's fifth-grade heavy-handedness.

The truly sad thing is there are writers who love kids and appreciate children's literature (as opposed to the highly patronizing Madonna), who have dedicated themselves to writing for children (a finely crafted children's book, a la Sendak, is as hard to write as poetry), yet will not receive one-hundredth the hype and publicity churned for this drek. In fact, many deserving works may not even get published, while Madonna gets signed for a series of five (five!) books.

This trend of authors (Madonna, Jay Leno, Jamie Lee Curtis) published for their celebrity rather than for the quality of their prose reflects a truly sad state within the children's publishing industry. I'd use a more colorful term to describe such children's publishers, but there might be kids reading this review.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Thorn among the roses...
Review: Having read hundreds of children's books over the years, I was willing to keep an open mind. Against my better judgement (and the hundreds of reviews warning me not to), I still went ahead and purchased this book. What a mistake! I must admit, the illustrations are beautiful and very engaging and I was almost able to forgive the words on the page... Almost.

Madonna's writing is patronising and, quite frankly, rude! I was faced with the question of "Why is she mad at me? I didn't ask that!" when Madonna's writing informed my child to "Stop interupting (her)". Honestly, sometimes that style of writing can be done fantastically well and with humour, but Madonna's "wit" and "style" are just rude. There was more than one occasion when we put the book down and considered not reading any more. Unfortunately, we kept going. What a waste of 48-pages.

As for the story, it is basically the simple notion that you shouldn't judge people by their appearances and that even 'perfect' people have problems. A good lesson, but I think it was lost in the last few pages when the girls (named the English Roses) made friends with Binah and they ALL became beautiful and popular and without problems. Hrm.

I give it 2 stars - mainly for the illustrations. They really are gorgeous and they alone are worth the money. The story, however, isn't worth a cent. I don't recommend it at all. Hopefully Madonna's next efforts at writing will be more encouraging!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CRITICISM
Review: I have collected and read kids books for years and I thought this one was great. (My only problem with it is that half the fun of it is in the illustrations and the illustrator was not credited on the cover).
Other than that, it was a really charming and relevant story told in a very likable way. I wonder if all the negative reviews would have been different if Madonna (who doesn't mean much to me either way) had used another name.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: Some of the reviews you will read below are negative and that surprises me.
These are childrens books, written for children, by a mother who was getting despondant that she couldn't find any books that taught her children morals.
I think its important to forget that this book was written Madonna the superstar, and concentrate on the content. (Though, lets be honest, is there anyone more qualified to combat the books subject matter?)

This particular book deals with JEALOUSY, and is perhaps aimed more at the girls (simply because of the characters and illustrations), though all kids should be taught the aim of the book. The story has been inspired by some of the teachings of the Jewish spiritual faith 'Kabbalah'. The reality is, the message forms the basics of any sprituality.
Yes, its simply written, but the story is well told, and its beautifully illustrated.
I would expect this to be a welcome and worthy addition to any childs book collection.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Would not buy
Review: I am very concerned that a woman who wrote a book entitled SEX, kissed other women on stage, has graphic and controversial videos and so much more, is now able to write for children. I will use the term loosely as her books for children are terribly written. The only reason she is published is because the publishers knew they could make money from her. It doesn't matter if she is giving the proceeds of her book to charity. Parents should be very concerned about this and whether Madonna is the kind of role model they want their children to aspire to. She should stick to music. People are only buying her book because of her celebrity status symbol. The illustrations are the best part of this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The perfect lesson
Review: My daughter is finally at the age where jealousy is a factor. I have been wondering how I was to explain this emotion to my 9 year old. We unwraped this book on Christmas morning, read it as a bedtime story that night, and then experienced one of those Ah-ha moments together. Thank you, Madonna, for making this delicate topic easier for Mothers around the world to express.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I would not recommend this book
Review: The basic idea for the story was good, just poorly told. What really bothered me was the line in the book "If you say no, you are telling a big, fat fib, and I am going to tell your mother." Binah (the object of envy)does not have a mother and how are children whose mothers have passed away supposed to feel? It's also hard ro believe that wonderful Binah had no friends whatsoever.


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