Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

I scimmed through the pages since I bought it for someone else, but it looked like a great book for children!

I started reading aloud to my students years ago as a technique to calm them after recess and P.E. classes. Throughout my long teaching career, I have read this book to probably thousands of children. I am about to retire, but the kids today seem to love this book as much as they did thirty-seven years ago when I first began teaching. That is truly remarkable and goes to show that children never really change though their surroundings do. Many of my students love this story so much, they check out other Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books from the library, which helps improve their reading skills.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is the neighbor everyone wishes they had. She's the widow of a pirate, lives in an upside down house, and is always ready for a tea party with freshly baked cookies. She's such an expert on kids that parents have started calling on her wisdom to cure their kids when they start misbehaving. And whether it's making chores into a game or getting kids to take a bath, she's sure to have the answer to make everyone happy again.I loved these books as a kid, and this book is just as fun now. The stories fall into a predictable pattern, but that hardly diminishes their enjoyment. Each chapter is a self-contained story, so it's easy to read just a little bit at a time. Unlike other books in the series that feature magic cures, these stories feature what I recognize now as psychology to cure the kids. The humor comes from the exaggeration of the problem and what the child goes through to get "cured." For example, the parent's fighting in the "Fighter Quarrelers Cure" or the tiny dishes in the "Slow Eater Tiny Bite Taker Cure." Heck, by the time the "Never Want to go to Bedders" are cured, they are actually begging to go to bed at their normal bedtime.Reading the book as an adult, I got a few good laughs out of the names of the parent's friends. I also found it interesting that very few of the adults have an identity apart from their kids. Then again, as a kid's novel, it presents a kid's eye view of the world. I hope these books continue to entertain for years to come.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a book that I enjoyed tremendously at age 8 when it was read aloud to me by my third grade teacher. Every day the entire class looked forward to hearing another chapter describing the shennanigans of some child that was having issues that we were having at that time (ie didn't want to go to bed, didn't want to eat, didn't want to clean up your room etc...). At 32 years of age, I once again am enjoying Betty MacDonald's creative way of capturing her audience with fun filled stories as I share them with my little one. This is a classic, along with anything by Beverly Cleary or Judy Blume.

I'm 27 years old, and I still remember getting the old green hardback copy at the school library at least once a month! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a delightful character who helps the parents teach their kids responsibility in her loving, hilarious method- from going to bed early, to cleaning their room and taking a bath. This is one of the first books I bought my son when he learned to read- and he has loved at as much as I did.

Remember the kid who'd never share? Who refused to take baths? Who always had a smart remark? So does Betty MacDonald, and she describes them with great humor and affection in this terrific book. Whether you're a kid who is sick of listening to adults' constant nagging or a parent who is at the end of their rope, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is sure to make you laugh. It is the story of a lovable woman who has a knack for curing children of their bad habits, sometimes through reverse psychology and sometimes through magical remedies. Even the holiest terrors turn out to be thoroughly charming young people once Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle gets through with them. I love this book because it gives kids credit coming up with all sorts of creative ways to drive their parents nuts (I'm sure even the saintliest of readers will recognize some of their own behavior in these chapters). Mothers are also given credit for putting up with exasperating kids, grumpy husbands, and thankless jobs like housework. Ultimately, this story is really saying that kids use being bad as a way to have fun, while parents use discipline as a way to remain sane. Each side will probably be more sympathetic to the other after reading this book.