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Nurse Matilda #1
Nurse Matilda
Nurse Matilda
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Christianna Brand
85 books107 followersChristianna 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Her Inspector Cockrill short stories and a previously unpublished Cockrill stage play were collected as The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from inspector Cockrill's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar (2002).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
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
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
December 29, 2021
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!
December 6, 2014
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!
October 5, 2015
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.
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.
September 2, 2019
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.
May 12, 2015
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.
March 5, 2020
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).
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! You’ll see my updates as I’m reading and know which books I’m liking and what I’m not finishing and why. You’ll also be able to utilize my library for looking up titles to see whether the book you’re thinking about reading next has any objectionable content or not. From swear words, to romance, to bad attitudes (in children’s books), I cover it all!
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).
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! You’ll see my updates as I’m reading and know which books I’m liking and what I’m not finishing and why. You’ll also be able to utilize my library for looking up titles to see whether the book you’re thinking about reading next has any objectionable content or not. From swear words, to romance, to bad attitudes (in children’s books), I cover it all!
May 1, 2019
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.
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.
September 21, 2017
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.
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.
May 19, 2017
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.
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.
August 26, 2017
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.
December 8, 2019
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.
November 3, 2018
"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.
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.
November 11, 2019
This is kind of like a British Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. And wow, the Brown family sure has a ridiculous number of children!
December 1, 2018
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).
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).
November 3, 2014
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...
""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...
May 15, 2019
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.
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.
July 22, 2012
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.
December 19, 2014
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!
NOT A GOOD BOOK!
January 9, 2013
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!
April 16, 2024
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.
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.
September 26, 2023
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.
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.
August 14, 2019
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.
May 27, 2020
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.
April 21, 2022
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.
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.
January 25, 2023
I found this book to be fun and easy to read. Although Ms. Brand style of writing is not my favorite I enjoyed following the Brown Children in their process of learning how to behave. Nurse Matilda is all about tough love, and I felt specially emotional when it was time for her to leave. What a pleasant surprise also to find out that this book inspired the creators of Nanny McPhee. I recommend this book for family reading time for children up to 8 years old and for individual reading for children from 7 to 9, maybe 10 years old.
October 3, 2017
I wanted to love this book, but my daughter seemed to really like it as I read it aloud to her. There was something about the long sentence structures, oddly-placed commas, tongue-twisting words, and overall organization of the plot that made it very difficult to stay engaged with the story. I would not recommend it as a read aloud book to children (my daughter is in second grade, for reference), and it's not something I would read for my own personal enjoyment.
June 7, 2017
Read this out loud to my 11 year old, as one of a series of books that inspired the Nanny McPhee movies, which we love. We enjoyed parts of it and I still love the idea of the nanny getting more beautiful and pleasant as the kids get more obedient and kind, it's such a cute story line, but I think this is a case where the movie may actually be better than the book.
January 30, 2022
I actually read “The Collected Tales of Nurse Matilda.” However, I could have stopped with the 1st of three tales. Though I enjoy reading vintage children’s books occasionally, the 2nd and 3rd books were essentially a repetition of book 1 set in different locations. That said, I enjoyed the story of the naughty children and the stick-wielding nanny.
September 11, 2023
I'm not sure if it's due to the age of the book or if it's because it's British, but there were many words I was unfamiliar with and that I found myself unable to figure out from context.
The stories were cute, but I don't think the book holds up well, and I do not think that a child today would easily understand the story.
The stories were cute, but I don't think the book holds up well, and I do not think that a child today would easily understand the story.
January 13, 2018
This story is a delight in itself, but also demonstrates Emma Thompson's brilliance at adaptation. It's not quite like the film, but the film does capture Nurse Matilda's spirit as portrayed in the book.
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