Nanny Matilda

Nurse Matilda #1

by Christianna Brand, Edward Ardizzone (Illustrator)

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were forever having trouble with their numerous and incredibly naughty children . . . until the day Nurse Matilda entered their lives.First published nearly fifty years ago, Nurse Matilda and its two companion books-Nurse Matilda Goes to Town and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital-have charmed readers ever since. Now the inspiration for the major motion picture Nanny McPhee, all three beloved books are available once again in a deluxe hardcover edition which features the three complete and unabridged books by Christianna Brand, along with Edward Ardizzone's charming black-and-white illustrations.

Genres: Classics, Childrens, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction, Chapter Books, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Christianna Brand (December 17, 1907 - March 11, 1988) was a crime writer and children's author. Brand also wrote under the pseudonyms Mary Ann Ashe, Annabel Jones, Mary Roland, and China Thomson.

She was born Mary Christianna Milne 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 written while Brand was working as a salesgirl. In 1941, one of her best-loved characters, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut in the book Heads You Lose. The character would go on to appear in seven of her novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel. The whodunit, set in a World War 2 hospital, was adapted for film by Eagle-Lion Films in 1946, starring Alastair Sim as the Inspector. She dropped the series in the late 1950s and concentrated on various genres as well as short stories. She was nominated three times for Edgar Awards: for the short stories "Poison in the Cup" (EQMM, Feb. 1969) and "Twist for Twist" (EQMM, May 1967) and for a nonfiction work about a Scottish murder case, Heaven Knows Who (1960). She is the author of the children's series Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted to film as Nanny McPhee (2005).

Her Inspector Cockrill short stories and a previously unpublished Cockrill stage play were collected as The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from inspector Cockrill's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar (2002).

Series:
* Nurse Matilda
* Inspector Charlesworth
* Inspector Chucky
* Inspector Cockrill

Reviews

[Azet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found "Nurse Matilda" in the library while looking for some books i read in my child-hood and was pleasantly surprised to know that the movie "Nanny McPhee" starring Emma Thompson was based on this book."Nanny McPhee" is one of my all time favourite child-hood movies (even the sequel) that i love to re-watch with my family even to this day. Reading the book was another experience all together,but still lovely and enjoyable. There was much fun leading up to all the lessons the many children of Mr and Mrs Brown learned by Nurse Matilda. The woman whom they from the start hate and thinks her ugly,but in the end wants her to stay...but indeed she has to leave them. I think this is a marvelous story that adds to the bittersweet farewell by the magical Nurse Matilda in the end.One of the most underrated books according to me!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, delightful, wholesome, old-fashioned and just perfectly well suited for children! we chose to listen to this one from audible and I am so glad that we did because the narrator was phenomenal! this was a lunchtime book of hours for three days and every day there were groans when it was time for me to turn it off. A keeper!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting to read YA books written a long ago--you can see how styles have changed over time.

Nurse Matilda, is an old fashioned story about a family coping with naughty children. Brand never tells you how many children they are and she changes their names frequently. Not one child is developed as a character but neither is anyone else. The parents are colorless and unremarkable except for their utter cluelessness. The servants are many and equally undistinguished. Aunt Adeliade has some spark to her as the antagonist, but she barely has a cameo. There's no exploration of Nurse Matilda's back story or mythology.

I found this interesting for its place in history. I'd recommend it for that reason, but the story will bore modern readers.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

And as they spoke – lo and behold! – there was a knock at the door, and there stood a small, stout figure dressed in rusty black; and she said, 'Good evening, Mr and Mrs Brown, I am Nurse Matilda.'
Well!
She was very ugly – the ugliest person you ever saw in your life!

With this unpreposessing description we are introduced to a character who had figured in stories told over generations in the author's family. In Nurse Matilda and its sequels Christianna Brand gives her version of a type of governess that would have been familiar in Victorian and Edwardian times, dressed in 'rusty black', stern in manner and almost witch-like; yet beneath a harsh exterior one hopes for a matronly individual with children's best interests at heart.

The Brown household consists of the parents, the regular assortment of staff, and "a huge family of children; and they were terribly, terribly naughty." Terribly naughty is almost an understatement: an uncountable number of Brown offspring (the author dares the reader to identify them all) are the most devilish of imps in hell you can imagine, over whom their parents and an endless succession of despairing "nurses and nannies and governesses" are unable to exercise any control.

But the arrival (only marginally less spectacular than that of Mary Poppins) of the much vaunted Nurse Matilda promises to put a damper on the mayhem; a sharp rap on the floor with her big black stick – a counterpart of the more famous parrot-headed umbrella – is ever the prelude to the children learning lessons the hard way. "Your children will require seven lessons," the parents are told, and that's what the little terrors get.

The heroine of this book is undoubtedly the title character, but one who appears the least appropriate. Her hair is scraped into a bun like a teapot handle, her eyes are like black boot buttons; yet despite a nose like two potatoes and a huge front tooth like a tombstone she outshines every other individual in the story, and when she is absent for a few pages you miss her.

This little gem is such a delight, and in more ways than one. My first impression is that this is an ideal book to be read aloud to children at bedtime, a chapter at a time over ten days. Any moralistic pill to be swallowed is sugared with the sheer irrepressible excitement of children behaving badly – cutting off pigtails, displaying dreadful table manners, teasing the servants, dressing up animals in their Sunday best – along with the repeated phrases, casual cruelty and obsession with food that characterise favourite fairytales, plus the extravagant lists which gleefully pile Pelion on Ossa. Young listeners will appreciate the drawn-out inevitability of repercussions following the Brown offspring being given enough rope to, as it were, hang themselves.

Then of course the eye is mightily entertained by the line illustrations supplied by the inimitable Edward Ardizzone who, it turns out, was the author's cousin. The dust jacket flaps of this Bloomsbury edition provide enchanting photos of both artist and author as Edwardian children while the board binding also features the jacket's image embossed in gold, but it is the inside drawings that really draw the eye.

If the plot outline of Nurse Matilda sounds familiar it's because it was adapted for the Nanny McPhee films, the title changed no doubt to avoid confusion with Roald Dahl's book Matilda and its film and musical spin-offs. While the screen versions were admirable nothing, in my opinion, beats the theatre of the imagination when this story is read or listened to.

Amidst the hilarity there may be the odd tear or two as the implications of Nurse Matilda's early warning dawns on the audience:

'The more they don't want me,' said Nurse Matilda, 'the more they must need me. When my children don't want me, but do need me: then I must stay. When they no longer need me, but they do want me: then I have to go.'

And, after "the ugliest person you ever saw" has her final apotheosis, the children's rewards for bettering themselves are some recompense for their sadness at losing her.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in a trilogy of novels about a magical, but very ugly nanny named Nurse Matilda, who tames the unruly and extremely naughty Brown children with the help of her big black stick. Each time the children, whom the narrator tells us are too numerous to name, commit some especially obnoxious act, they find to their dismay that they cannot seem to stop doing whatever it was they shouldn’t have been doing in the first place. So it is that when they tip over backwards in their chairs, they find themselves stuck to the floor, feet in the air, for quite some time. When they pretend to get sick, they find that they truly are, and must suffer through Nurse Matilda’s medicines.

Although they slowly become less naughty, the Brown children are taught a final lesson when they threaten to run away, and find themselves doing so in earnest, without the ability to stop and rest. Nurse Matilda, who has grown progressively more beautiful as the children have become less naughty, departs in the end, as she is only able to stay with a family until the time that the children truly want her to be with them - then she must leave. This title has a real sense of chaotic family fun, and the author even inserts a very naughty Christianna (fond childhood memories?), and has the story illustrated by her cousin, Edward Ardizzone. Originally published in 1964, it was reprinted in 2005, to coincide with the release of the movie Nanny McPhee, which offers a loose adaptation of the series.

[Ivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love it. This was one of those books that comes to mind when I think of Shaw's quote: "Never give a child a book you wouldn't read yourself." Sorry, but this was a better movie ("Nanny McPhee"). I'll take "Mary Poppins" thank you. There were some nice bits, but I couldn't connect with the characters - they didn't behave in a plausible way. It just didn't click for me.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read several stories with magical nannies coming to the rescue of families in need. I thought it would be fun to compare each of their pros and cons and see how they lined up ...

Nurse Matilda:
-Likable nanny.
-The children are naughtier in this book; doing things sometimes just for naughtiness’ sake (like throwing their porridge on the walls) but they always end up regretting their decisions and learning their lesson (I think the author was trying to be a little tongue-in-cheek with the kid’s actions).
-The book is really funny.
-I loved the writing style and the illustrations were great!
-The first book has a satisfying ending (books #2 and #3 are essentially repeats, but with different circumstances, so I would have rather liked to see the author use a different family to show that the children really had changed and weren’t back to their old antics again – still fun reads though).


Mrs. Piggle Wiggle:
-Likable “nanny.”
-The children have some common bad habits and learn their lessons nicely (actually, these stories are pretty practical and applicable, so if you have kids who are slow eaters, don’t pick up their toys, etc. there’s some good, fun lessons here).
-The book is pretty funny.
-I loved the writing style and the illustrations were great!
-I was satisfied with the ending.


Mary Poppins:
-I did not like the nanny (watch the movie instead, if you want to like Mary Poppins; Julie Andrews did a great job enhancing and making the character likable).
-There’s actually FOUR children and they all need some help with their behaviors and perspectives, but in the end, they learn too. (There’s one chapter in the book, Bad Tuesday, they I don’t recommend reading to your kids).
-I don’t remember thinking it was all that funny.
-I loved the writing style and the illustrations were great!
-I was not satisfied with the ending (Mary Poppins leaves, and rather than the family coming together (like in the movie), the mother calls for the cook to put the children to bed so she can be off to her dinner party).

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[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Brown children are the most ill-behaved, mischievous, naughty little children in all the world, and the only nanny who can possibly control them or teach them any manners is Nurse Matilda. With her magical walking stick, Nurse Matilda teaches important lessons like going to bed when you're told, not chomping your food, closing doors after yourself, and putting on your best clothes when you're told. Only the insane magical situations the children find themselves in could possibly teach them to say please and thank you!

I started rereading this one as a way to de-stress and help me fall asleep at night, but then I got so interested in the story that I stayed up late reading it! My favorite character is the Baby, whose diapers are always falling down, and who always remembers that "Nurge Magiggy" won't help you unless you say "please".

A rollicking adventure in the playroom of a grand house with dozens of children constantly getting into disastrous trouble for the most riotous reasons! This book always makes me laugh, and it would be perfect to read aloud to children before bed.

[Christina Baehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

My literal-minded child was horrified by this. My chaotic Grimms-loving children grasped it instinctively. This is NOT a child raising manual!

I really, really like this weird, funny little gem—I love the symbolism, I love the terrible children, all the tropes, and the whole way that goodness/lawfulness first presents as ugly and forbidding and threatening and gradually becomes beautiful.

If you read it literally, Nurse Matilda is a monster, but if you read it like some kind of Dante-esque symbolism where the children are confronted with the consequences of rampant sin it works so well. And I love the little details of Edwardian childhood.

[Tirzah Eleora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the movie that is based off of this series, but I'd heard from several sources that the books weren't as good. I read it mostly because it has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I wanted to know if it was worth the space it's been taking up. Even with these pretty low expectations they were disappointing.

The "characters" in these books are complete nondescript and we are told little more about them other than their names and most obvious trait. Nurse Matilda has a magic stick she employs to discipline the children and is very ugly. The others that populate the book are simply generic, boring people. We have the Naughty Children who spend every waking moment creating chaos and the Stupid and Usually Unpleasant Adults who are too brainless to even recognize the source of the disruption. That is basically all there is to it.

In addition to the lack of interesting characters the stories are also lacking any plot. The Children are Naughty, Nurse Matilda comes and uses her magic to force them to continue their misdeeds against their wills until they repent, and after several chapters repeating this pattern the children have become good and the story is over. The entertainment value is entirely in the outrageous pranks of the children, so when they have become good there is nothing left for the author to write.

Vague characters and no plot are a poor foundation to try and build a book on and this one obviously fails to be a story of any interest. I certainly wouldn't read it to children, if not only because it's not a good story, but also because it promotes the obnoxious idea that all adults are fools who are entirely susceptible to the wiles of children. Not wholesome material. If you want a good nanny story, stick to classics like Mary Poppins.

Overall, this is not a three star book. The main reason I gave it that many was because I had to give it a higher rating than its two sequels, and the sequels, bad books though they are, did not enrage me enough to have earned One Star. Let's just call this one a 2.5 and the others a 1.5.




Note: I had to add the three books separately since Goodreads does not have the edition containing all of them that I read.

[Laura Frunza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cartea este foarte comică, dacă ţinem cont de perioada în care a fost scrisă (1964), când a învăţa cele şapte lecţii ale bonei Matilda era un deziderat pentru toţi copiii. În ziua de azi probabil că nimeni nu mai vrea să-şi înveţe copilul să facă ce-i spun părinţii sau să respecte reguli legate de ora de culcare, de trezire sau de conduita la masă, dar e şi mai probabil că părinţii nu iau masa separat de copii şi nici nu-i pasează bonelor şi servitoarelor, ignorând tot ce se petrece cu ei şi în vieţile lor.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 9 year old got bored after the second chapter so I finished this on my own. The main characters just didn’t have much appeal. I recommend watching Nanny McPhee over reading the book it was based on.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When you realize you need me... I will be gone."

I didn't realize what a powerful message this would have for us, until the last chapter. We aren't criers during our read alouds often, but I had one in serious tears by the end with this one.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of like a British Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. And wow, the Brown family sure has a ridiculous number of children!

[Marcus Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When my children don’t want me, but do need me: then I must stay. When they no longer need me, but they do want me: then I have to go.”

Ah, this tugged at my heartstrings!

This beautiful little book was a lovely, quaint read; written in a delicate, humorous fashion, and embedded with joy, laughter and brightness, as well as plenty of very old-fashioned lessons for naughtychildren! (I still don’t quite know what starched clothes are…)

This book is the basis for the Nanny McPhee movie - and I love both! The movie differs a bit, but I feel is amazing in its own right; and the book, well…
there is nothing about it not to love :)

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After having read Mary Poppins (and being so thoroughly disappointed in the literary source material) I remembered that I actually had this book sitting on a shelf still unread and thought well, I might as well make it a run on old fashioned nanny stories right?

And I'm so glad I did. Nurse Matilda is everything that Mary Poppins isn't. Now, granted, this book was written 30+ years after Poppins was, but it's set in a very similar time period, and Mathilda, like Mary, swoops into her family's life (the Brown's this time instead of the Banks') when they are desperate for childcare. But where Mary seems to have no value or purpose in coming and definitely has no narrative arch Mathilda's purpose and arch are made clear from the outset. Mathilda has come because the Brown children are really the most naughty children ever and she'll leave in that moment when the Brown children no longer need her, but want do her.

Mathilda is strict and unwavering with the children and is a committed disciplinarian, she's also magical and the children have magical experiences because of her but she's clearly there for a purpose: to better the children. And even more than that, it's obvious even from the first time she taps her magical cane, that she cares for the children (something Mary was never able to make me believe). She is all in all lovely and likeable and is frankly, the perfect response to everything that's wrong with Mary Poppins (as a literary character).

[Gláucia Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A família Brown possui inúmeros filhos e os mais arteiros que se possa imaginar. Não há mais babás que queiram trabalhar para eles, a não ser Matilda, muita feia com seu nariz batatoso e seu dentão horrendo. Será que ela conseguirá corrigi-los? E que método empregará? Leitura infantil de qualidade, boa para ler com os filhos em voz alta, boa pra gente mesmo em silêncio.


""E, justo quando os Brown estavam rezando para que ela continuasse sua corrida louca, fez exatamente o que as cabras sempre fazem - que é fazer o que não se quer que elas façam."

""Quanto menos me quiserem, disse a Babá Matilda, mais precisam de mim. É assim que eu trabalho. Quando minhas crianças não me querem mas precisam de mim: então eu fico. Quando elas não precisam mais de mim mas me querem: então eu vou embora."

"Era uma vez uma família muito grande, cheia de crianças; e elas eram levadas, terrivelmente levadas. Nessa época, as mães e os pais tinham muito mais filhos do que hoje; e, quase sempre, os filhos eram para lá de levados. Mães e pais precisavam ter uma porção de babás, enfermeiras e governantas (que quase sempre eram francesas ou alemãs) para cuidar de todos os seus filhos levados; e em geral uma pobre criadinha magrela para servir as babás, governantas e enfermeiras...

[Gresi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da quando la Walt Disney ci fece conoscere Mary Poppins, ci fece scoprire il segreto dietro la parola disciplina, diligenza, rispetto, si scoprirono nuove modalità di approcciarsi al prossimo. C’erano superstiti, bambini ribelli i cui genitori spaventosamente spaventati concepivano oramai come casi persi quei figli che non sarebbero mai più stati educati a dovere, avrebbero dovuto poi pentirsi e dire << per favore >> nel momento più appropriato. Altri avrebbero dovuto sedere composti a tavola, o lavarsi le mani prima di consumare i pasti perché i genitori non obbligano quanto educano a comportarsi in un certo modo. Adottare un certo comportamento soprattutto in relazione con la società per mettere alla prova chi si sarebbe rivelato vittima o carnefice di un meccanismo anarchico che avrebbe influito sul mercato reazionario di molti. Anche ai tempi di Mary Poppins, quello in cui concise la nascita del suffragio femminile, ebbe e svolse un certo ruolo per tutti i dogmi o paradigmi del passato e chi avrebbe adottato una condotta ligia e rispettosa ai doveri avrebbe trovato buoni riscontri.
Dovunque ci si voltava, le istitutrici, le governati, le tate divennero nuove figure, in alcuni casi facilmente sostituibili alla figura del genitore, e quelli che non sarebbero riusciti a domare i propri figli avrebbero visto il loro mondo rovesciato, portato in mezzo a un dirupo e scomparire dinanzi ai loro occhi sbalorditi. Mary Poppins avrebbe istigato e usato metodi che avrebbero messo alla prova i fanciulli e decidere come e perché educarli, nel momento più opportuno.
Da allora, la figura della tata non fu più la stessa; le tracce di un tipo di educazione impartita da sconosciute e che ai più piccoli genera disagio era dovunque, e l’invisibile carica di dolore, sofferenza a sopportare qualcosa che era pressochè intollerabile si accumulava riempiendo l’aria, appesantendo ogni silenzio e rendendo inevitabile l’evitabile. Come l’autrice di Mary Poppins, anche tante altre scrittrici dopo di lei,fecero di queste tate delle figure esemplari per far sentire la loro voce, impartire un certo tipo di educazione la cui natura era strettamente legata a quella dei sogni. Alla natura innocente di giovani perlopiù vivaci e non malvagi, quanto desiderosi di attenzioni.
Con Tata Matilda non mancheranno i convenevoli, difficoltoso qualunque tentativo di spendere non più di qualche parola, pronta a correre lungo una strada che era invasa da sette bambini ribelli e scalmanati. Arrivò quando meno me lo aspettavo, proprio mentre stava per concludersi una settimana di puro relax, partecipai alla lettura condivisa indotta su Facebook con un certo fervore, una cosa più intensa di quel che credevo e raccolto un tempo ideale per volare nella Londra vittoriana di fine ottocento, stavolta senza dubbi o perplessità accolsi la storia di Christianna Brand vedendo e associando mentalmente le diapositive del film. Il film con Emma Thompson, alla pari della Andrews, invitava a guardarci dentro e riconoscere come, sebbene siamo individui estremamente diversi fra noi, siamo masse finite in un universo infinito, e dunque, nel primo capitolo, tra la presentazione dei bambini e l’avvento di questo << ciclone tata >>, mi rallegrai nel pensare o nel credere di poter abbracciare le medesime sensazioni riscontrate col film. Senza capire il vero significato di questi miei sentimenti, né perché le mie aspettative fossero così alte, sebbene mi sia sentita coinvolta in una storia non propriamente sconosciuta, conferito nel poter innamorarmi anche del personaggio letterario. Le vicende ritratte dalla Brand non espugnano niente di particolare o impressionistico da esigere qualcosa di più di un semplice ritratto di una istitutrice, figura sospesa tra sogni, fiabe, filastrocche e fantasie basati su principi piuttosto solidi, ed io ho avuto la possibilità di riconoscere la medesima persona che aveva impersonato la Thompson nel 2005 riconoscendone il legame. Non discostandosi, nemmeno di poco, dalla donna vanesia ma comprensibile e coinvolgente che conobbi. Le pagine di questo romanzo, infatti, mi hanno permesso di vedere scenari che ebbi già visto, dare maggior spessore a personaggi o situazioni nel film accennate, trascinando lungo un viaggio mozzafiato e brillante, dovuto dal simbolismo che si cela dietro alla figura di Tata Matilda: le istitutrici erano le migliori medicine possibili per famiglie che non hanno tempo o intenzione di badare ai propri figli. E, pur quanto indomabili o dai modi animaleschi, sottomessi al volere di una donna potenzialmente enigmatica e magnetica.
La sera in cui accadde tutto questo, la brutta Tata Matilda venne a trovarmi fiera e orgogliosa della sua presenza. Una manciata di pagine hanno reso solido l'antico rito affettivo, solidale, commemorativo che mi trincerarono, come molti altri, dietro un mondo appartato, accogliente, magico, nel quale avrei voluto viverci. Pur quanto semplice, carino, ma freddo e altezzoso, il mio cuore non ha potuto vivere più di qualche giorno circoscritto fra i meandri di un tesoro nascosto che scintillerà solo per qualche ora Sembra una soluzione o una frase fatta ma la sua lettura è stata fin troppo breve, veloce. Lo suggello con la consapevolezza che mi ha fatta sentire un po’ frustrata per non aver visto ciò che già sapevo, ma, dal punto di visto emotivo o letterario, inconsciamente e resistente ai dogmi imposti dalla società, stranamente confortata dall ostruzionismo di una neo mamma, segno che forse il profeta del profitto è capace di contenere nel palmo della sua mano sentimenti normali e umani sia perché si impara ad amare chi ci dedica del tempo sia per il valore che attribuiamo a certe cose.
Tata Matilda fu scritto con uno stile spiritoso che consente al lettore di vedere e capire l’assurdità del comportamento umano senza mai compromettere la serietà della trama, quando evidenziare come il mondo concreto è solo un’illusione e il male fisico e morale deve essere combattuto con la forza della mente e della preghiera.

[Gresi e i suoi Sogni d'inchiostro]

Da quando la Walt Disney ci fece conoscere Mary Poppins, ci fece scoprire il segreto dietro la parola disciplina, diligenza, rispetto, si scoprirono nuove modalità di approcciarsi al prossimo. C’erano superstiti, bambini ribelli i cui genitori spaventosamente spaventati concepivano oramai come casi persi quei figli che non sarebbero mai più stati educati a dovere, avrebbero dovuto poi pentirsi e dire << per favore >> nel momento più appropriato. Altri avrebbero dovuto sedere composti a tavola, o lavarsi le mani prima di consumare i pasti perché i genitori non obbligano quanto educano a comportarsi in un certo modo. Adottare un certo comportamento soprattutto in relazione con la società per mettere alla prova chi si sarebbe rivelato vittima o carnefice di un meccanismo anarchico che avrebbe influito sul mercato reazionario di molti. Anche ai tempi di Mary Poppins, quello in cui concise la nascita del suffragio femminile, ebbe e svolse un certo ruolo per tutti i dogmi o paradigmi del passato e chi avrebbe adottato una condotta ligia e rispettosa ai doveri avrebbe trovato buoni riscontri.
Dovunque ci si voltava, le istitutrici, le governati, le tate divennero nuove figure, in alcuni casi facilmente sostituibili alla figura del genitore, e quelli che non sarebbero riusciti a domare i propri figli avrebbero visto il loro mondo rovesciato, portato in mezzo a un dirupo e scomparire dinanzi ai loro occhi sbalorditi. Mary Poppins avrebbe istigato e usato metodi che avrebbero messo alla prova i fanciulli e decidere come e perché educarli, nel momento più opportuno.
Da allora, la figura della tata non fu più la stessa; le tracce di un tipo di educazione impartita da sconosciute e che ai più piccoli genera disagio era dovunque, e l’invisibile carica di dolore, sofferenza a sopportare qualcosa che era pressochè intollerabile si accumulava riempiendo l’aria, appesantendo ogni silenzio e rendendo inevitabile l’evitabile. Come l’autrice di Mary Poppins, anche tante altre scrittrici dopo di lei,fecero di queste tate delle figure esemplari per far sentire la loro voce, impartire un certo tipo di educazione la cui natura era strettamente legata a quella dei sogni. Alla natura innocente di giovani perlopiù vivaci e non malvagi, quanto desiderosi di attenzioni.
Con Tata Matilda non mancheranno i convenevoli, difficoltoso qualunque tentativo di spendere non più di qualche parola, pronta a correre lungo una strada che era invasa da sette bambini ribelli e scalmanati. Arrivò quando meno me lo aspettavo, proprio mentre stava per concludersi una settimana di puro relax, partecipai alla lettura condivisa indotta su Facebook con un certo fervore, una cosa più intensa di quel che credevo e raccolto un tempo ideale per volare nella Londra vittoriana di fine ottocento, stavolta senza dubbi o perplessità accolsi la storia di Christianna Brand vedendo e associando mentalmente le diapositive del film. Il film con Emma Thompson, alla pari della Andrews, invitava a guardarci dentro e riconoscere come, sebbene siamo individui estremamente diversi fra noi, siamo masse finite in un universo infinito, e dunque, nel primo capitolo, tra la presentazione dei bambini e l’avvento di questo << ciclone tata >>, mi rallegrai nel pensare o nel credere di poter abbracciare le medesime sensazioni riscontrate col film. Senza capire il vero significato di questi miei sentimenti, né perché le mie aspettative fossero così alte, sebbene mi sia sentita coinvolta in una storia non propriamente sconosciuta, conferito nel poter innamorarmi anche del personaggio letterario. Le vicende ritratte dalla Brand non espugnano niente di particolare o impressionistico da esigere qualcosa di più di un semplice ritratto di una istitutrice, figura sospesa tra sogni, fiabe, filastrocche e fantasie basati su principi piuttosto solidi, ed io ho avuto la possibilità di riconoscere la medesima persona che aveva impersonato la Thompson nel 2005 riconoscendone il legame. Non discostandosi, nemmeno di poco, dalla donna vanesia ma comprensibile e coinvolgente che conobbi. Le pagine di questo romanzo, infatti, mi hanno permesso di vedere scenari che ebbi già visto, dare maggior spessore a personaggi o situazioni nel film accennate, trascinando lungo un viaggio mozzafiato e brillante, dovuto dal simbolismo che si cela dietro alla figura di Tata Matilda: le istitutrici erano le migliori medicine possibili per famiglie che non hanno tempo o intenzione di badare ai propri figli. E, pur quanto indomabili o dai modi animaleschi, sottomessi al volere di una donna potenzialmente enigmatica e magnetica.
La sera in cui accadde tutto questo, la brutta Tata Matilda venne a trovarmi fiera e orgogliosa della sua presenza. Una manciata di pagine hanno reso solido l'antico rito affettivo, solidale, commemorativo che mi trincerarono, come molti altri, dietro un mondo appartato, accogliente, magico, nel quale avrei voluto viverci. Pur quanto semplice, carino, ma freddo e altezzoso, il mio cuore non ha potuto vivere più di qualche giorno circoscritto fra i meandri di un tesoro nascosto che scintillerà solo per qualche ora. Sembra una soluzione o una frase fatta ma la sua lettura è stata fin troppo breve, veloce. Lo suggello con la consapevolezza che mi ha fatta sentire un po’ frustrata per non aver visto ciò che già sapevo, ma, dal punto di visto emotivo o letterario, inconsciamente e resistente ai dogmi imposti dalla società, stranamente confortata dall ostruzionismo di una neo mamma, segno che forse il profeta del profitto è capace di contenere nel palmo della sua mano sentimenti normali e umani sia perché si impara ad amare chi ci dedica del tempo sia per il valore che attribuiamo a certe cose.
Tata Matilda fu scritto con uno stile spiritoso che consente al lettore di vedere e capire l’assurdità del comportamento umano senza mai compromettere la serietà della trama, quando evidenziare come il mondo concreto è solo un’illusione e il male fisico e morale deve essere combattuto con la forza della mente e della preghiera.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful children's book. I watched Nanny McPhee years ago but had never had the pleasure of reading the book (or even knew there was one, until recently).

I noticed some of the reviewers critiquing it because YA novels have better character development and the children can't be kept track of. Dear readers, that is The Point. This is NOT a YA novel. The vagueness is part of the humour. This book is a very British, very funny, and yes, completely unrealistic children's story. It's been compared to Mary Poppins, but also reminds me of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Each little episode describes a handful of children making mischief (there seem to be new names every time!) and ends with "And all the rest of the children were doing simply dreadful things too." Whimsical and over-the-top British children's humour. I can't wait to share this with my children.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are the basis of the new movie Nanny McPhee (which I haven’t seen), which is billed as the new Mary Poppins. The book is a bind-up of 3 books: Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda goes to Town, and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital. The children in the books are horribly, horribly bad and the parents believe their children are darlings. Nurse Matilda combines Mary Poppins’ sternness with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s remedies of exaggeration (curing by making you do the same thing many times). It’s a cute book and a very easy read. There is a running away story in each of the individual books, which gets old by the time you’ve read the third one. I think the first book (Nurse Matilda) is the strongest.

[Nevada Libert · Rating 1 out of 5]

i only got half way in to this book but it was just to naughty for me. i think it needs to be written better, i was expecting it to get better and for the children to learn better manners,


NOT A GOOD BOOK!

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure I read this because of the Ardizzone illustrations---seems I also bought this book many years later because of those illustrations with no memory of having read this in 1982!

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a chore this was to get through.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Kids in the 60s were built different. These books were not without their whimsy, but I could not imagine a child today enjoying them. I don’t think I would have enjoyed them as a child, either.

Even at their most fun, these stories are quite mean-spirited to both the children and the victims of their pranks. The naked contempt the author has for fat people, old people, ugly people, sick people, poor people, unfashionable people, and pugs is as baffling as it is impossible to find charming.

The end of the first book is trying to do the Mary Poppins thing where the children have learned how to function without their nanny, so it’s time for her to move on. But where Mary Poppins is like, “You didn’t need me, you needed the love of your parents all along, and here it is,” Nurse Matilda leaves the children back in the care of their negligent parents to strike the fear of god into a pack of even more poorly behaved brats. She gifts the kids a trunk of toys to give their love to instead. It just rings so hollow.

The next two stories are repetitive to the point of inciting madness. The innumerable, homogenous mob of children have learned nothing about empathy or basic human decency from Nurse Matilda, actually, and she has to keep coming back to administer magical punishments that they never do learn from because they also keep getting their memories wiped. What the hell. What kind of unethical science experiment is Nurse Matilda running on these horrible kids?

I also could have done without the pervasive casual racism that kept popping up at random intervals. What an extra unpleasant surprise every time that showed up.

[Ena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inventive. The magical nanny with the twist of her beginning with an ugly exterior no doubt representing the children’s ugly interior and turning pretty as they become well mannered and polite.
Interesting that this author simply wrote down the story as near as she might. A story told to her by her grandfather in childhood.
The story goes forward much in the way of “when you get what you want you don’t want it anymore” aka a cautionary tale to young children to mind or else nurse Matilda might come your way and you’ll get everything you want yo the point of sickness. Also reminds me of the smoke the whole pack bit.
The book is cute, enjoyable. However, it’s repetitive. As this is a children’s book, that is to be expected; repetition for children is good but not great for me, an adult.
I read this after watching the nanny McPhee movie which was wonderful and filled in the holes of the book, made actual characters of the children, smoothed out the plot, and generally did what the book did not. They are very similar in structure which I always like to see from novel to movie adaptation, save that Mrs. Brown did not die in the book. I like the panache of movie better, more resonant storylines.
The ending is as every child dreams. An enormous trunk of every toy imaginable to assuage the sadness of losing nurse Matilda.

[Lillian Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Browns are a family with very many, very naughty children. Nurse Matilda comes when they've scared away every other available Nanny, and with her magic stick in hand she teaches them seven lessons about how to behave properly. She uses magic to make them be as naughty as possible, to make them learn it's better to be good.

I read Nurse Matilda because I loved the movie Nanny McPhee, which is based on it. I found the book to be enjoyable, light-hearted and funny. It's written for children, so it's pretty simple, but it's fun and entertaining. It's a quick read that doesn't require too much thought, which made it perfect to simply cheer me up and make me laugh. It's full of fun antics and creative naughtiness, and there's a few good lessons to learn along the way.

I think this is a fun middle-grade book that kids would probably enjoy and anyone (of any age) looking for a light and funny read should also check out, just don't expect anything too deep or complicated. Perfect for a quick and entertaining story full of silly moments, this is a great book if you're looking to laugh.

[Ramona Cantaragiu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certain parts were clearly funny, especially does containing details of the children's shenanigans, but other parts were simply odd. For example, I would have liked to get more details on why Matilda was ugly and why she became beautiful when children stopped misbehaving and why this was her only character trait besides the fact that she had a magic stick and liked to punish children for being naughty. In addition, I found myself bored with the same pattern repeating itself - children are naughty, Matilda punishes them, children stop being naughty for a short while and then return to their old habits. However fun their shenanigans were, I became frustrated by the fact that they seemed to learn nothing and that they only stopped doing certain things because the punishment was too harsh. I clearly prefer Mary Poppins over Nurse Matilda any time of the day.

[Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The person you need is Nanny McPhee.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have an unlimited supply of naughty children (plus a baby) and absolutely no control over them. After countless nurses and nannies have fled, quite literally fled. Only one person is able to take the job: Nurse Matilda. We might know her as Nanny McPhee.

It’s no surprise that the name was changed for the movies. Nanny McPhee fits the whole: The person you need, is Nanny McPhee.

The Green children are chaotic, loud, and nearly impossible to keep track of. There are so many of them, which adds to the sense of overwhelming disorder in the book. The baby is the easiest to keep track of and manage.

The movie is more high paced than a book from 1964 (wow, shocker, I know). It does explain some of the choices made in the film, not all, but some. They took inspiration and bits from all 3 books.

Compared to the movies I think this book is less spectacular and I’m okay with that.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful audiobook. Full of wonderful words like lolloping, and gahl's. A cautionary tale for naughty children, and lessons in being careful about what you wish for.

It only suffered because I'm so familiar with the movie version of Nanny McPhee, and I was distracted for comparisons between the book and the movie. Interesting that Emma Thompson's intonations in the movie are almost identical to Phyllida Law's on the audio. Just checking the Nanny McPhee movie was 2005, this audiobook 2006.

There are many similarities between the book and the movie, although very significant differences too, Mrs Brown not being dead for instance, and particularly the ending.

At least 4 stars, maybe 4.5.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and very old fashioned. Mary Poppins adjacent. If you like the film Nanny McPhee (which I do) and have watched it multiple times (which I have), then you will quickly deduce that this is the primordial ooze from which Emma Thompson and Co. crept. Nurse Matilda is to Nanny McPhee like Homo Erectus is to Home Sapiens. Should that detract from the delight that is this book? Absolutely not! All of those children! The clueless mother who thinks her children are perfect angels (you probably know her; you may be her)! Great Aunt Adelaide Stitch! Highly recommend to a discerning reader who likes old fashioned and well written children’s books that aren’t saccharine (well, perhaps a bit of saccharine but that’s what makes the book so sweet and cute).