The Adventures of Abdi the poor queen. The enraged king orders them to be thrown in the dungeon forever. In 2003, Madonna signed a contract with Callaway Arts & Entertainment for a series of five children's books. She explained that each book dealt "with issues that all children confront... Hopefully there is a lesson that will help kids turn painful or scary situations into learning experiences". The first three releases were "The English Roses" (September 2003), "Mr. Peabody's Apples" (November 2003), and "Yakov and the Seven Thieves" (June 2004). All three charted on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. Cumulatively, the three books
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