Beautifully reproduced with a handsome Edward Ardizzone cover and a neat little book mark, this is a welcome reissue of the true source of the first Nanny McPhee film. Mr and Mrs Brown have a handful of unruly children – we’re talking old fashioned naughtiness here – whose pranks and scrapes lead to an endless succession of staff resignations until the redoubtable Nurse Matilda appears on the scene.
Formidably ugly, she is also gifted with children helped now and then by a touch of magic. Driven by good humour and rarely preachy, Nurse Matilda nonetheless extols the value of adult control over children – at least some of the time.
Reviewed by Julia Eccleshare M.B.E Julia Eccleshare has a lifetime of working within children’s books as a critic, an editor, an author and a commentator. More reviews by Julia Eccleshare M.B.E
About Nurse Matilda
Mr and Mrs Brown are always having great difficulty with their numerous and incredibly naughty children. They try all the agencies but the nurses, governesses and nannies never stay long with the Brown children.
Mr and Mrs Brown are always having great difficulty with their numerous and incredibly naughty children. They try all the agencies but the nurses, governesses and nannies never stay long with the Brown children.
'The person you want is Nurse Matilda,' they are told. And when Nurse Matilda does arrive very strange things begin to happen.
Brought together in one volume are the three remarkable tales of Nurse Matilda - Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda Goes to Town and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital. Having delighted generations of readers since their first publication in the sixties, the books have now formed the inspiration for the newly-released and fabulous Nanny McPhee, written and adapted for the big screen by Emma Thompson who stars as Nanny McPhee opposite Colin Firth as Mr Brown. This collection of stories from Christianna Brand is sure to charm and entertain all readers new and old.
Christianna Brand was born in 1907 in Malaya and spent her early years in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess.
Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was published in 1941. A year later her best-loved series character, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut in Heads You Lose. He would feature in a total of seven of her detective novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel and considered by many to be her masterpiece. H.R.F. Keating described the novel as ‘the last golden crown of the Golden Age detective story’. The novel was adapted for the big screen in 1946 starring Alastair Sim as the Inspector.
Christianna Brand’s most appealing characteristic as a writer was her ability to blend complex and intriguing plots with a lively sense of humour conveyed both through character and dialogue. Brand herself admitted: ‘I write for no reason more pretentious than simply to entertain.’
Christianna Brand was married to her husband Roland for nearly fifty years. She died in 1988.
Mr and Mrs Brown are always having great difficulty with their numerous and incredibly naughty children. They try all the agencies but the nurses, governesses and nannies never stay long with the Brown children.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Nurse Matilda and determined it is suitable for children aged 7-10 years old
Nurse Matilda features in the following genres: Featured Books for 7+ readers, Recommendations, Featured Books for 9+ readers
Hardback. Not Available.
Nurse Matilda was written by Christianna Brand and published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Nurse Matilda has 124 pages
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