Madonna's first venture into the literary world came with the release of her 1992 coffee table book, SEX. The book proved to be a massive success, selling out its entire first edition. She later released another coffee table photography book entitled The Girlie Show which had an accompanying live CD with exclusive tracks from the tour.

In recent years, she had success writing a series of children's books. On September 15, 2003, she released her first (of six) children's books, The English Roses, and it instantly became the biggest and fastest selling book ever by a first-time children's author. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestsellers List for children's picture books and remained there for an impressive eighteen weeks.

Four new English Roses books are due in September 2007.^[1]

1992 SEX

• Released: October 21, 1992
• Photographer: Steven Meisel
• Publisher: Warner Books/Callaway
• Sold 1,400,000 copies in 6 months
• Debuted at #1 on New York Times Best Seller list
• Includes accompanying CD with track "Erotic" which is a slightly different version of the later release "Erotica"
• Originally named "X" but was changed due to the film Malcolm X being released the same year.

1994 The Girlie Show

• Released: August 18, 1994
• Photographer: Herb Ritts, Christopher Ciccone, Various
• Behind-The-Scenes of the 1993 World Tour
• Publisher: Callaway
• Sold 140,000 copies
• Includes accompanying CD with live tracks "Like a Virgin", "In This Life", and "Why's It So Hard"

1996 The Making of Evita

• Released: December 5, 1996
• Author: Alan Parker with foreword by Madonna
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Includes Behind-The-Scenes photography from the making of the motion picture Evita

1998 The Emperor's New Clothes

• Released: October 1998
• Author: Hans Christian Andersen
• Publisher: Starbright Foundation
• Book with audio CD
• Each snippet of story is performed on an audio CD by one of 23 celebrities, including Jay Leno (the Moth), Madonna (the Empress), Fran Drescher (the Heralding Horn), Jeff Goldblum (the Imperial Wizard), Robin Williams (the Court Jester), and Calvin Klein (the Emperor's Underwear)
• Steven Spielberg plays the Honest Boy, and he is the creative director of this ambitious enterprise designed to benefit the Starbright Foundation for seriously ill children
• In the CD, Madonna tells the story from the perspective of the Emperor's Wife (illustrated as Marie Antoinette by Daniel Adel).

2003 X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS

• Released: 2003
• Photographer: Steven Klein
• Designer: Giovanni Bianco
• Madonna's third coffee table book sold for $350 each.
• 260 pages of 4 color images in a sealed, numbered edition of only 1000 copies.
• Hand-bound and printed in Italy.
• Printed on customized paper with brushed cotton paper slipcase.

2004 Nobody Knows Me

• Released: January 2004
• Photographer: Various
• Available exclusively for one month only via Madonna's official website madonna.com
• 52 pages of success, rare and unseen shots commented by an Icon and her angels.
• The book sold for $24 each.

Children's books

The English Roses received the widest launch in publication history as it was released in over a hundred countries on the same day; it also debuted in thirty languages. It is now available in 40 languages and in more than 110 countries worldwide.

Her series of books may very well mark the existence for the first time of kabbalist children's books. All of the books strive to teach lessons Madonna has learned in her study of this branch of Jewish mysticism as well as lessons she has learned throughout her life. For example, in The English Roses, her lead character's name, Binah, comes from the word Kabbalists use for "Understanding".

Madonna's subsequent releases, Mr. Peabody's Apples and Yakov and the Seven Thieves, were both released within a year of The English Roses. They also debuted at number one on the New York Times list and became international best sellers. Combined, Madonna's first three children's books have sold over one and a half million copies worldwide. The Adventures of Abdi was her least successful book. Her latest book, Lotsa de Casha, debuted at number three on the New York Times? Bestsellers List. For the Lotsa de Casha promotion, Madonna did a photoshoot with photographer, Lorenzo Agius; 8 pictures (including the cover picture) were released in the U.S. magazine Ladies Home Journal with an exclusive interview inside.

2003 The English Roses

• Released: September 15, 2003
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari
• Sold over 500,000 copies
• Debuted at # 1 on New York Times Best Seller list
• New York Times Children's #1 Best Seller for 7 weeks

2003 Mr. Peabody's Apples

• Released: November 10, 2003
• Illustrator: Loren Long
• Debuted at # 1 on New York Times Best Seller list

2004 Yakov and the Seven Thieves

• Released: April 26, 2004
• Illustrator: Gennady Spirin
• Debuted at # 7 on New York Times Best Seller list

2004 The Adventures of Abdi

• Released: November 30, 2004
• Illustrator: Andrej Dugin
• Top 10 New York Times Best Seller list

2005 Lotsa De Casha

• Released: June 2, 2005
• Illustrator: Rui Paes
• Top 10 New York Times Best Seller list

2006 The English Roses - Too Good to Be True

• Released October 26, 2006
• Illustrator: Stacy Peterson
• Sequel to the 2003 International Best-seller

2006 5 Volume Boxed Set

• Released October 26, 2006
• Contains all the first 5 Children's books
• Unique "English Roses" style box with Madonna depicted reading to Lourdes and Rocco

2007 The English Roses - Friends For Life! #1

• Released: September 6, 2007
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

2007 The English Roses - Good-Bye, Grace? #2

• Released: September 6, 2007
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

2007 The English Roses - The New Girl #3

• Released: September 6, 2007
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

2007 The English Roses - A Rose By Any Other Name #4

• Released: September 6, 2007
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

2008 The English Roses - Big-Sister Blues #5

• Released: May 29, 2008
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

2008 The English Roses - Being Binah #6

• Released: July 17, 2008
• Illustrator: Jeffrey Fulvimari

References

ka:??????? ???????????? ru:???????????? ???????