THE COLLECTED WORKS OF NURSE MATILDA.

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF NURSE MATILDA by CHRISTIANNA BRAND.

SOURCE: A charity shop buy.

"Once upon a time there was a huge family of children; and they were terribly, terribly naughty ....' 

So begins Nurse Matilda, the first of three books by the celebrated team of Christianna Brand and illustrator Edward Ardizzone about the unusual, no-nonsense nanny who uses magic to rain in the mischievous children in her charge - and changes their lives forever.
.... Inner front cover

FIRST SENTENCE {Nurse Matilda, Chapter 1}: Once upon a time there was a huge family of children; and they were terribly, terribly naughty.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS {Page 84 }: All children have aunts and most children have at least one really fearsome aunt or even great-aunt. The Brown children had this truly fearsome great-aunt, Great-Aunt Adelaide Stitch.

MY THOUGHTS: Comprising three books - 'Nurse Matilda', 'Nurse Matilda Goes To Town' and 'Nurse Matilda Goes To Hospital' - within this one edition. The stories form the basis of the Nanny McPhee films starring Emma Thompson. 

Written in the mid nineteen forties I think it fair to say that this is a quintessentially English novel about a middle class family with a brood, a very big brood, of the most unruly children who, having seen off several nurses and nannies, are desperately in need of Nurse Matilda who staying whilst children don't want her but need her goes when they want her but no longer need her.

Whilst book one, Nurse Matilda, was an enjoyable enough read, I'm afraid for me the other two stories fell flat. Involving the same family, albeit it with an increasingly large number of children (chapter one of book one named seven, chapter one of book three, twenty six) none of whom we ever really got to know as individual characters. Though the situations might have varied slightly the lessons learnt didn't which made for repetitive and all too familiar reading. And as for the illustrations. 'Pen and ink' drawings by Edward Ardizzone, I'm afraid these weren't much to write home about either. Much preferable to many children I'm sure would be the later published edition of the tales which contains a colour insert of scenes from the film.

Still, a charming enough if slightly old fashioned collection of stories that may well prove popular as a bedtime read for pre-teens. For myself, this was one of those rare cases in which I actually preferred the films to the book.