Madonna plans 'morality tale'< 5 Children's Books>

BBC ^ | 17 April, 2003, 11:02 GMT 12:02 UK | Editors

[Helms]

Madonna's venture into children's books will see her writing morality tales based on Hebrew texts she is studying. The pop star has signed a deal to write five books that will be based on the Kabbalah religion, the first of which will be called The English Roses.

Madonna said that she wanted to achieve something deeper than the "vapid and vacant" books that were available for young readers.

She also said the idea of writing the books was suggested to her by a Kabbalah teacher and she originally planned to co-write them with husband Guy Ritchie.

In an interview for music channel VH1, to be screened in the UK on Good Friday, she criticised children's books for not containing any life lessons.

Now I'm starting to read to my son, but I couldn't believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were

Madonna

Madonna said: "I have a teacher I've been studying Kabbalah with for the last almost seven years now, and he's suggested that I write some children's stories based on a lot of things that I've learned in Kabbalah - so that's what I did."

She said that husband Ritchie had got caught up writing scripts so the responsibility for writing the books fell solely to her.

'No effort'

She added: "He did stay really involved - you know, he's my greatest critic. Whenever something gave him the retarded tingles, he was not shy about letting me know."

The impetus for writing for children came after reading to her daughter Lourdes.

"Now I'm starting to read to my son, but I couldn't believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were," she said.

"There were like no lessons, just all about princesses and like the beautiful prince arrives and he takes her for his wife and nothing happens, no efforts are made.

"Nobody asks her what her opinion is, or I didn't see anybody struggling for things. There's like no books about anything."

Speaking to Will & Grace actress Megan Mullally she also explained why she split her time between London and Los Angeles.

"I find that people in Europe are much more interested in the quality of life, they're not so work-oriented," she said.

"They're not willing to stay in the office 12 hours a day, they know how to enjoy life better. But Americans know how to get things done quicker."

[martin_fierro]

I hereby nominate this woman for the MTV "Unintentionally Hilarious" award.

[MEG33]

May I second the nomination?!

[Dan from Michigan]

Bwahahaahahahahhahahahaha.

Wonder if she'll have any pics from the MTV awards when she stuck her tongue in Britney Spears.

[Mr. Mojo]

"Now I'm starting to read to my son, but I couldn't believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were," she said.

"Earth in the Balance" is not something that should be read to a child.

[CFC__VRWC]

Madonna ... "vapid and vacant"...

She should know - these two words pretty much sum up her life.

[MEG33]

Good one!

[Mr. Mojo]

"There were like no lessons"

Like wow. Is she, like, for real? Try Dr. Seuss.

[FlyVet]

Um, sorry. No sale. Only brainless parents would buy into this. Doing the lip lock with the "teen" sluts on MTV, now selling childrens' books. Uh huh. Lucky for her, there are lots of DUmb@ss Democraps out there who will be lining up to buy them. What a shameless piglet.

[GSWarrior]

I hear the first publication will be one of those pop up books.

[WestPacSailor]

"Earth in the Balance" is not something that should be read to a child.

But it's just so hard to get little Timmy to stop fidgetting while I read him "War and Peace". (in the original Russian, of course)

[WestPacSailor]

I hear the first publication will be one of those pop up books.

Ewwww! Bad visual on that one. Bad, bad, bad!

[Ciexyz]

My sympathies to the hard-working children's writers out there who are trying to get a book contract.

[Mears]

Anyone who would buy her books are nuts.

There are libraries full of wonderful chidren's literature and I wonder where she got the books that she reads to her son.

Celebrity childrens books drive me nuts anyway so maybe I'm not being too impartial in this discussion.

[Helms]

ni·hil·ism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-lzm, n-)
n.

1. Philosophy.
1. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
2. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.

[glory]

"Now I'm starting to read to my son, but I couldn't believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were," she said.

"There were like no lessons, just all about princesses and like the beautiful prince arrives and he takes her for his wife and nothing happens, no efforts are made.

__________

This woman is an absolute self-important moron. Does anyone doubt that 1) she does not even know the vast numbers of children's books out there--heck there is a thousand recommendations for elementary age on the Classical Christian homeschooling site and my guess with a simple google search you could get any number of lists of "books with lessons" 2) she thinks they are all useless because they weren't written by her!!

I'm a homeschooler and even with only a kinder age child I have read enough books to know there are already high quality ones out there and plenty with lessons to teach. Hey Madonna, here's a clue, buy more than Disney books! How about The Carrot Seed which gives a lesson in patience? There is an excellent story in Stories from Africa that gives a wonderful lesson on temptation and pride. Why even those "princess" stories she despises oftentimes teach lessons about being good to others, patience, dreaming, not talking to strangers, and good winning over evil. I know there are many many more, those are just for starters. Oh wait, perhaps the problem is they just don't teach Madonna's "values"...self-gratification, pride, sexual immorality...I'm sure she can fill that vacuum by just telling her children her life story.

[Helms]

I have become cynical, now believing not in coincidence but
the intentional using of cultural whores like Madonna to send an almost psychopathic message to the culture at large.

[Paleo Conservative]

I wonder if her "morality" book is going to contain Madonna's pictures from last night. I'm sure those pictures will go over really well with most parents. I'm sure this will be on book shelves all over the country next to Heather Has Two Mommies.

Madonna is SO Not "Like A Virgin" at This Year's VMAs"

[Humidston]

>>but I couldn't believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were <<

Metaphorically speaking, I'm sure.

[pax_et_bonum]

"Whenever something gave him the retarded tingles, he was not shy about letting me know."

Those darn retarded tingles.