Madonna knows plenty about the power of words. This “sticky and sweet” provocative pop diva has said some pretty shocking things in her life, just to “push people’s buttons” (as Madonna herself admits). But in her children’s book
Mr. Peabody’ Apples, Madonna sends a different message: that people should choose words carefully to avoid causing harm to others. Madonna was inspired by a 300-year-old story her Kabbalah teacher told to her. It is a thought-provoking story that teaches a valuable lesson…
Mr. Peabody is the coach of a Little League baseball team in a town called Happville. All the ball players look up to him. All the people in the town admire him. One day, Mr. Peabody is walking down Main Street and stops at Mr. Funkadeli’s market. He picks up a shiny red apple and puts it in his bag – without paying for it! A boy named Tommy sees the whole thing. Tommy runs to tell all his friends, who tell their parents, who tell their neighbors. Gossip spreads fast through a little town like Happville. Soon everyone believes that the once well-respected Mr. Peabody is nothing by a common thief. Truth is, Mr. Peabody DOES pay for his apples, every Saturday and in advance. But Tommy didn’t know that when he saw Mr. Peabody put the apple in his bag and started the vicious rumor.
“It doesn’t matter what it looked like,” Mr. Peabody tells Tommy.
“What matters is the truth.”
Tommy asks what he can do to make things better. That’s when Mr. Peabody teaches the young man the moral lesson that is the based on the teachings of Kabbalah. Mr. Peabody tells Tommy to cut open a feather pillow and shake the feathers out, which float away in the wind. Then Mr. Peabody asks Tommy to pick up all the feathers! The task is impossible, just as impossible as it would be for Tommy to undo the damage his words did to Mr. Peabody’s reputation. This book illustrates why it is wrong to be so quick to judge a person and to watch what you say.
About Madonna:
Madonna donates all of the proceeds from the sales of
Mr. Peabody’s Apples to the Spirituality for Kids Foundation. This book is the second of five total books that Madonna calls “Stories for Children of All Ages (Even Grown-Up Ones). Madonna’s first children’s book,
The English Roses, was released in more than 100 countries around the world, and is also reviewed on this website (see link below). The other books in the series are
Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The Adventures of Abdi, and
Lotsa De Casha.
Madonna has recorded 16 albums and appeared in 18 movies, including the baseball movie
A League of Their Own. To find out more about her music, her movies, and her personal life, read her biography (see link below).