The Collected Tales : Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone c1964, collected tales c 2005 by Bloomsbury Publishing : New York and London

Mr. and Mrs. Brown had so many incorrigible children that they didn’t seem to know what to do. The Agency had already sent them a lot of nurses, nannies, and governesses, and all had fled because of the terribly, terribly naughty Brown children. There were so many of them that their parents thought of them in groups, from the Big Ones, to the Middling Ones, and on down to the Baby who spoke in its own language. The Tiny Baby was too young to be really naughty yet, so it did not get counted.

What were these naughty children up to? Here are the author’s words:

“Francesca had filled the Tiny Baby’s bottle with baby-food and was feeding the dogs with it.

Little Quentin had drawn flowers all up and down the walls and was watering them from the big, brown, nursery teapot.

Antony was filling up the nursery ink-wells with runny red jam

Sophie was shampooing Hernrietta’s hair with glue.

All the other children were doing simply dreadful things too.”

The Browns had been advised to find Nurse Matilda, but none of the Agencies they visited seemed to have her on their books. It was a surprise to arrive home and find her on the doorstep, ready to begin the lessons that would reform the Brown children. Nurse Matilda was not at all pretty. She had tiny, black eyes, a nose like two potatoes, and a frighteningly huge front TOOTH.

Nurse Matilda also had a big, black stick, and when she brought it down with a loud and firm thump, things began to happen. Magical things that no one could explain. The other thing no one could explain was how Nurse Matilda seemed to be less ugly as the children’s behavior improved. At times she looked almost attractive! There is one rule that governs Nurse Matilda’s time with the families she has helped. When the children don’t want her, she must stay, and if the time comes that they do want her, she must leave. The Brown children are without a doubt the naughtiest Nurse Matilda has encountered, so it looks as though she will be with them for a long while.

Learning to sit up straight in their chairs.

The Nurse Matilda stories were written by Christianna Brand, a successful author of mystery books, and illustrated by her cousin, Edward Ardizzone. Brand and Ardizzone spent lots of time together as children, and heard the first Nurse Matilda stories which were invented and told to them by Edward’s grandmother. Lots of creativity in that family! One of the things to notice about the stories is the number of children. I found the number in an article about the books, but I leave it to readers to discover on their own. The Collected Tales include: Nurse Matilda, Nurse Matilda Goes to Town, and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital. I found the three individual books in a bookshop on a trip to York, UK, some years ago, and regret not buying them. Each was bound in a small volume with gilded edges and a sewn-in bookmark. Very attractive to the children’s book collector I turned out to be. The collected tales are currently also available in paperback.