The English Roses "The English Roses: Too Good to be True". Another picture book, it was illustrated this time by Stacey Peterson. The hardcover first edition was published by Callaway on October 24, 2006. Madonna felt compelled to write the sequel at the suggestion of her daughter Lourdes. The story continues with the girls encountering their first romantic crush and the reader again learns a valuable lesson. "The English Roses: Too Good to be True" sold only 9,000 copies in the month following its release according to BookScan. Its lack of sales was attributed to Madonna being embroiled in a controversy over the
The Stars and the Roses the "San Francisco Chronicle" called the piece "a short but lushly expressive suite of three orchestral songs" and wrote, ""The Stars and the Roses" needed no help in making its effect felt. With its poignant, resourceful orchestral writing and clarion text-setting, the piece illuminates Milosz's poetry (in English translation) in a subtle but evocative way." Jeff Dunn of the "San Francisco Classical Voice" similarly lauded, "The orchestration is the immediate strong point of the piece, but unlike the in-your-face symphony, Stucky's motivic content and progression may require repeated listenings for its subtleties to become manifest." Stucky rewrote the piece in