Ghost of a flea

Mr. Peabody's Apples

Madonna's second children's book is now available. Like the first, it is based ostensibly on insight from the kabbalah. A Village Voice critique suggests mama don't preach.

However powerful her Christian name may be, in the context of publishing it feels inadequate and inauthentic. Whoever engineered the flap copy knew this: The author's bio begins, "Madonna Ritchie was born in Bay City, Michigan." The jarring inclusion of her married name seems a deliberate attempt to fool anybody who might flip to the back. This book is not by Madonna née Ciccone, who so recently tongue-wrestled Britney Spears; it's by Madonna Ritchie, native of the pleasantly down-home sounding Bay City, Michigan, Blessed Mother of Lourdes and Rocco. You know, mommy-from-the-block. "She lives with her husband"—does that sound like the Madonna who once equated blowjobs with fervent prayer?

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 10, 2003 12:50 AM