The Kitchen Madonna [Import] [Hardcover]

RUMER GODDEN (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Viking Press; 1st US edition (1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333051653
• ISBN-13: 978-0333051658
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,003,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unsentimental tale of a young boy's devotion to his nanny, May 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)

Rumer Godden delivers another unsentimental children's story that explores the quiet devotion that Peter has to his Ukranian housekeeper. A solitary boy who does not liked to be kissed or hugged, Peter scours London for a "Kitchen Madonna " that will make his homesick nanny feel welcome. In the course of his search, Peter makes new allies and discovers that even he needs the warmth and companionship of his family and neighbors.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book..., December 16, 1999

By 

"sarah_the_princess" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)

Let me put it to you this way...I am considering buying this book for $45 and I am a poor college student. The most touching story of childhood generosity ever.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartwarming story, October 14, 2007

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)

Rumer Godden is a consummate storyteller--and this is one of her most accessible tales.

Peter is a very introverted little boy, perhaps because he has been taken care of by a string of nannies and housekeepers or perhaps he is just that way by nature. But his latest housekeeper/nanny is Marta, a Ukranian who barely speaks English. She is an unhappy exile from her homeland, and is sad because the kitchen has no "good place"-- an altar with candles and an icon of Mary and the Infant Jesus. At home, the kitchen would have been a warm and cozy place with a candle-lit icon twinkling with little jewels in a dim corner.

For some reason, Marta's inchoate expression of her homesickness touches Peter, and he goes about making an icon for Marta. The story of how he finds materials to make the icon including foiled toffee wrapper "jewels" is a great little adventure and the puzzlement of Peter's parents, who have written him off as cold and strange is delightful. In the end, both Peter and the family are changed by the "good place" in the kitchen but more so by the lesson that doing something wholly for someone else has rich rewards.