The English Roses admonishing her older provocative self. Madonna's narration was described by Ginny Dougary as "bossy". She also found parallels with the singer's childhood in "The English Roses". "Slate"s Polly Shulman found the book to be "charmless, didactic" and egoistic since she felt it revolved around Madonna and her daughter. Shulman added that ""The English Roses" is a dull little thing, though not incompetent. Madonna does understand the basic structure of storytelling—perhaps too well", with multiple cliches present while making the titular characters "so passive that they might as well be good." David Kipen of the "San Francisco Chronicle" humorously said that
The Witch's Children and the Queen The Witch's Children and the Queen The Witch's Children and the Queen is a children's picture book written by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto, and published by Orchard Children's Books in 2003. It won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages category 0–5 years. This is the second of three Witch's Children books created by Jones, perhaps better known as an actress, and Ayto. Ayto made the Greenaway Medal longlist as illustrator of the first one, "The Witch's Children" (Orchard, 2001). As of July 2013, it alone has a U.S. edition catalogued by the Library of Congress (PZ7.J72755 Wi 2003).