View source for Lamellia: The Wicked Queen by Gloria D Gonsalves

{{infobox1
|title=Lamellia: The Wicked Queen 
|sort=
|author=Gloria D Gonsalves 
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=A second story from the mushroom kingdom of Lamellia, this time with an important message about unconditional love. Rich, beautiful illustrations and good lessons in the text.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=36
|publisher=AuthorHouseUK
|website=
|date=January 2018
|isbn= 1546287663  
|video=
|cover=Gonsalves_Queen
|aznuk=1546287663
|aznus=1546287663
}}

Lamellia is a kingdom of mushrooms in a land far away. Many types and colours of mushroom live there and they are all ruled over by King PoliPoli, a big brown mushroom who is a wise and kind leader. King PoliPoli is married to the beautiful Queen Nobilia. But Queen Nobilia cannot conceive a baby and this makes her very sad. She sings a sad song so emotive that her sorrow infects the whole land. 

So, when the lantern mushrooms find a lost human baby in the forest, King PoliPoli is happy to adopt her. Tiara will be the child he and the Queen never had. All the mushrooms lend their abilities and talents to look after Tiara...

... except for Queen Nobilia, who poisons the child with her glowing green eyes each time Tiara comes near her - and then blames the hapless lantern guards. Eventually, worried for his adoptive child's failing health, King PoliPoli sends emissaries to the neighbouring kingdom of Eucalyptia to ask for help. And there, Queen Nobilia's perfidy is discovered.

''The Wicked Queen'' is Gloria D Gonsalves's second story from the mushroom kingdom of Lamellia, this time with an important message about the importance of kindness. Actions have consequences, you know. And showing kindness is not only the right thing to do, it also often reaps rewards. If only Queen Nobilia had realised that! Being unable to have a child made Queen Nobilia very sad but also very bitter and unkind. Yet if she had shown kindness to the human baby that found its way to her realm, she could have had a child of her own to love. Instead, she chose cruelty and deception and ends up still childless and ostracised from her community to boot. ''Lamellia: The Wicked Queen'' demonstrates very vividly to children that behaving badly won't win you friends and that showing generosity will. You begin the story feeling sorry for Queen Nobilia but you end it feeling that she got her just deserts.

As we've seen before with Gonsalves's previous picture books, the illustrations are lovely - bright, vivid and lush. I loved the final image of Princess Tiara, now a beautiful Amanitan mushroom with a glorious red spotted cap. The text flows with a rhythm that is easy to read aloud and there is plenty of stretching vocabulary - invader, ghostly, environment, extraordinary. Taken together, the text and the illustrations combine to create a distinct and striking world in Lamellia. I can imagine there are more stories from this flamboyant land for Gonsalves to tell, and I look forward to reading them.

If this story appeals to you, you shouldn't miss the [[Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms by Gloria D Gonsalves|first book]] in the series. The ultimate wicked queen is given glorious treatment in the pop up book [[Snow White by Jane Ray]].

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