From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-In yet another change of public persona, Madonna turns Mother-Knows-Best moralist with a tale aimed at preteens, though packaged in picture-book format. Responding to an admonition from one of their mothers, and with additional guidance from a fairy godmother, four young fashion plates at a sleepover simultaneously dream that a classmate, ostracized because of her extreme beauty, has to do all the household chores because her mum is dead. When this actually turns out to be true, the four guiltily invite Binah into their circle, and surprise, surprise, soon they're all thick as thieves. An unseen narrator delivers this rough-hewn story in a conversational, "listen to me, I'm telling you this for your own good," tone, breaking in distractingly several times to make sure that readers are paying attention. Reflecting a background in fashion art, Fulvimari places skinny lasses with oversized eyes, dressing and posing as if they've stepped from the pages of a department store catalog, against visually bewildering expanses of scribbled filigree or loudly patterned wallpaper. All in all, this overproduced episode, the first of a projected series, will have to rely on hype rather than content or presentation to find a readership.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Booklist
K-Gr. 2. Why, it seems like only yesterday that Madonna was showing off her jiggly bits in her first publishing effort, Sex (1992). Now she has lowered the age of her target audience to the under-eight set with this first book in a series of five, this one featuring a multicolor quartet of girls who are "practically glued to each other at the hip." A girl they do not like is Binah, who is too pretty and too perfect. Enter Nicole's mother, who in a little speech for which the word didactic was invented, tells them that poor, lonely Binah could use a friend. At a sleepover, the Roses dream the same dream: a fairy godmother takes them to Binah's house, where she must do all the chores, Cinderella-like, because her mother is dead! Would any of the girls want to trade places with her now? Well, no. Awake, the Roses resolve to be kinder, stop complaining, and help Binah with her many chores. In the acknowledgements, Madonna thanks two people for sharing the secrets of storytelling with her. Apparently, they were holding back the part about originality. What is fun are Fulvimari's illustrations, wild squiggly lines brushed with color featuring English Roses who look like the popular Bratz dolls. But the poor illustrator gets neither a thank you nor even a brief bio on the flap copy. The next book in the series, Mr. Peabody's Apples, will appear in November. Perhaps it will be about a girl who learns how to share. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
