 Material Girl no more? Madonna says writing children's books is more fulfilling than being a pop chart queen or a movie star.
Her book, "The English Roses," went on sale on September 15th, appearing in 100 countries and in 30 languages as the first in her series of five tales for children. The pop diva, whose only book until now was the 1992 photo essay titled "Sex," said she wrote the books to teach children some of the life lessons she's learned over the years. "The most fun that I've had of all the things I've done creatively has been to write these books," "A lot of it has to do with the fact I'm not doing it to become more famous, and I'm not doing it to become richer. I'm not doing it because I think it's cool," Madonna said. "I'm doing it because I want to share something I know with children." Hours after its release, the 48-page book was already No. 8 on Amazon.com's sales list. The initial print run is 1 million copies worldwide, with more than 750,000 in the United States. "The English Roses" is about a friendship shared by four girls and their mutual envy of a beautiful classmate, with illustrations by fashion artist Jeffrey Fulvimari. The inspiration for the five books - coming editions will focus on sharing, accepting mistakes and other themes - came from her study of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, she said. "There is one life-giving force in the world," Madonna declared. "When we disconnect from this life-giving force, that's when we bring chaos and pain and suffering into our lives. Each of the stories have to do with different ways you disconnect from God." Madonna also said she was profoundly influenced by the experience of raising two children, Lourdes, 6, and Rocco, 3. "The English Roses" is the latest among a growing number of celebrity-written children's books. The next book in the series, "Mr. Peabody's Apples," will be out in November. Each tale is set in a different time and place and features new characters and different illustrators. (Agencies) | 告別“物質女郎”？麥當娜說為孩子們寫書比做流行歌后或電影明星更有成就感。 9月15日，她的新作《英國玫瑰》以30種語言在全球100個國家同時發行。這是她為孩子們創作的5本系列童話書中的第一本。 此前這位流行歌后只有在1992年出版過一本名為《性》的寫真著作。她說寫童話書是為了將她多年來總結的生活經驗教給孩子們。 “我做過的有創造性的事中最令我開心的就是寫這些書。” “這很大程度上是因為我這樣做不是為了讓自己更出名，也不是為了賺更多的錢，更不是因為我覺得這樣很酷。我這樣做完全是因為我想把自己知道的一些東西與孩子們一起分享。” 麥當娜說。 新書發布才幾個小時，這本48頁的童話書在亞馬遜網站的銷售排行中已經名列第八。該書在全球范圍內第一版就印了100萬冊，其中75萬冊在美國發行。 《英國玫瑰》講述的是四個女孩之間的友誼，她們都羨慕一位長相漂亮的同學。時尚畫家杰弗里·富爾維馬里為該書配了插圖。 麥當娜說創作這5本書的靈感來自于她對喀巴拉的研究，或者說猶太教神秘教義的心得體會--接下來的幾本書會以分享，承認錯誤和其它一些主題為重點。 麥當娜說：“世界上有一種賦予生命的力量。當我們遠離這種力量時，我們的生活就會陷入混亂、痛苦和磨難。書里面的每一個故事都講述了遠離上帝的各種情形。” 麥當娜還說養育兩個孩子的經歷對她產生了很深的影響，盧爾德6歲，羅科3歲。 越來越多的名人熱衷于為孩子們寫書，《英國玫瑰》是其中最新的一本。 這一系列書中的下一本《皮博迪先生的蘋果》將在11月出版。每一個故事都發生在不同的時間地點，有新的人物和不同插圖畫家。 （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2003-09-17 01:00
