Witty and imaginative, with a very British spin, but the volumes would be better read individually, as there is a bit of repetition in them. I reckon that there could have been more books in the series but how many times do you honestly want to put up with reading about children that the author tells you no one else likes because they are so ill-mannered as to be considered something of a blight on humanity!

This volume contains stills from the recent movie “Nanny McPhee” but that is its sole redeeming aspect. The children (of which there are an unknown number) have very inventive ways of being naughty that would probably make children today laugh, but many of which are so over the top as to be obnoxious. If you are interested in the insider scoop on movie-making, in addition to the film diary, you will enjoy my post on Emma Thompson’s Advice to Aspiring Actors at 5 Minutes for Mom today.

wittily written, this gives a delightful insight into the craft of film-making and the accidents (Rhys Ifans breaking a foot playing football) that can hold things up, and will provide lots of trivia-spotting for children who watch it on the big screen . The second movie is a spin off of the first (if you've seen the first one, you'll catch the connection in the second one at the end). There are three separated stories in this movie tie-in edition of the book: Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda Goes To Town and Nurse Matilda Goes To Hospital. The repeat of the naughty pranks the kids play as a list, to me, seemed tedious but it might bring giggles to kids by the outrageousness of it all.

The entire book reads as if it’s in Emma Thompson’s voice (I would know since I was able to participate in a half-hour interview with Emma Thompson, right? In Victorian Britain in the 1860s, widower undertaker Cedric Brown is the father of seven unruly children—Simon, Tora, Eric, Lily, Sebastian, Christianna "Chrissie" and baby Agatha "Aggie". Nanny McPhee: The Collected Tales of Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.I started out with the first book in this (gratefully short) series by Christianna Brand, Nurse Matilda (published 1964.