Convents are religious places
Peaceful and sublime
Full of nuns with solemn faces
Praying all the time.
Through the arches dark and lofty
Meek as they can be
All the nuns are treading softly –
All except for me.
So begins Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns a book of irreverent verse which has delighted young readers since its first edition in 1986. Sister Madge Mappin and her fellow sisters from the Convent of Our Lady of Immense Proportions are now back in a new hardcover picture book edition, ready to be discovered by a new generation of readers.
The rollicking poems are silly, irreverent and naughty – but they are laugh out loud funny, cleverly crafted by the talented Doug MacLeod, and brought to life in the illustrations of Craig Smith. As well as Sister Madge, there is Sister Stephanie, a diminutive nun who gets her own back on a store manager who teases her for her shortness, Sister Christabel who adds laughter to the convent with a whoopee cushion and Sister Isobel who innocently (or not) feeds the children to the animals on a zoo visit.
Suitable for primary aged readers right through to adults, it is wonderful to see this old favourite back in print.
Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns, by Doug MacLeod & Craig Smith
This edition Working Title Press, 2012
ISBN 9781921504433
This book is avaialble in good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.