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Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this book deals with subjects like conformity and competition among preadolescent girls. While these issues are of real concern to tweens, there's no meaningful self-reflection or growth among the story's characters. The girls start off in a clique of four and end up in a clique of five, with no insight about the inherent problems of conformity and exclusive social groups.

Families can talk about how kids can deal with similar social situations in real life. Do you ever hear friends say mean things about other classmates? Have you ever stuck up for classmates who get picked on for being different? Why or why not?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Matt Berman

Well-known entertainer Madonna makes her debut as a children's book author with a series of five books, each based on a different set of emotions and each with pictures by a different illustrator. Now a mother of two herself, Madonna says that she was inspired by her Kabbalah teacher to share with children some of the insights that she has gained in her Kabbalah work.

While Madonna's intentions may be high-minded, this first book in the series is less than successful. Although THE ENGLISH ROSES is packaged to look like a picture book for younger children, the subjects and content are more appropriate for upper-elementary-school age children, and there's a glitzy, Barbie-doll quality to both story and illustrations.

As illustrated by fashion designer Jeffrey Fulvimari, the characters are wide-eyed, skinny, and fashionably dressed. They slouch and pose like little fashion models, and in many ways the four girls epitomize a privileged, narrow-minded style and sensibility. They reject Binah initially because they're insecure; her beauty and wide-ranging accomplishments make them feel even worse about themselves. But in the end, when out of pity they invite Binah to join them, the four girls are rather self-servingly delighted to find that the praise that had been lavished on the exemplary Binah alone is then showered on them all.

From The Book

Here are some things you should know about them: They go to the same school and live in the same neighborhood. They play the same games, read the same books, and like the same boys. They have picnics in the summer and ice-skating parties in the winter. They are practically glued to each other at the hip.

Plot Summary:

Four British girls, all 11 years old, do everything together, including snubbing a beautiful, accomplished neighborhood girl named Binah whom they have never met and who makes them feel jealous. A fairy godmother offers the four the opportunity to see inside Binah's home. They discover that Binah's mother has died, that she lives alone with her father, and that she does all of the housework and cooking (in addition to her schoolwork and sports). Chagrined, the four girls invite Binah into their clique.

Related Books:

Same Idea, Only Better!
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes Also in the Series
English Roses: Too Good to Be True

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