Customer Reviews

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am 35 years old and can still remember my mother reading us these story every night. No matter how many times we heard them over and over it was the best time we spent together. I now have a daugter of my own and can't wait to read the same storys to her. I loved all the funny things she would do the kids to get them to listen to their parents.

This series was among my favorites as a child. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's innovative ways of correcting improper behavior in children will amuse young readers while instilling notions of what is right and wrong. The books are very humorous and light-hearted.

This is a delightful and funny book for children. I read it a few years ago and thought to myself, this is a funny book, but adults shouldn't really read it because they might not like it like me. It's childish humor about an old lady who likes children. Buy this for your children.

I'm actually sorry to say that I preferred this to the first Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book. Or maybe I just like the magical cures in some cases. Anywho, this is a delightful addition to the wonders of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and is ful of thoroughly entertaining and hilarious stories that gently nudge everyone (not just kids!) into recognizing not-so-good habits. It's sweet, friendly, and never condemns, though it will always bring a smile.

I love the Piggle-Wiggle books! I was first introduced to the seres when my third grade teacher read them to the class. I have enjoyed reading them to my own students since then...Children love hearing about the different tales and adventures of the children who are friends of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle! The stories come alive for all people who hear these stories because it's so easy to relate to. I think we all can remember a time when we had trouble interrupting or not cleaning up after ourselves!!!! These stories are a true treasure!!

This book doesn't live up to the original. The original had tales of children who learned to want
do the right thing. This book just has stories about children who are tricked into good behavior. Not the same!

I am a fan of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, and I love how she relates to children, but this book does not show much of that. This book mostly shows parents at their wits' end with their kids, and then magic pills or powders that "cure" them.

While admittedly ridiculous and full of good, memorable scenes, this book is not up to the same level as "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" or "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm". In those books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle uses a love and understanding of children, plus reverse psychology, to bring about changed behaviors. No magic dust. Love, patience, and understanding.

My favorite cure in this book was the bullying cure: substituting leadership for bullying. But I think it's better to do it without the pills.

Miss Piggle Wiggle is the charmingly little woman who lives around the corner of an unnamed neighborhood. Could it be yours? Children love her because she lets them paint, woodwork, sew, and ride bicycles in her yard. And parents love her because she seems to be the only one who keep their children under control. In this collection of short stories, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle digs through her old sea chest full of magical cures (which was left to her by her husband, the pirate) to find remedies for crybabies, show-offs, and whisperers.

Hilary Knight's ink sketch illustrations depict hilarious scenes such as Melody Foxglove drowning in her own tears, Jimmy Gopher bullying Priscilla Wick, and Harbin Quadrangle slowpoking his way out of bed. The illustrations are just ridiculous enough to compliment the entertaining stories, while remaining realistic enough to flatter the moral of each tale.

In this, the second collection of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories, Betty MacDonald once again uses her creative writing to teach children that it isn't nice to whisper, bully, or show off. Just as relevant over half-a-century since it's first publication, children everywhere will relate to at least one of the many interesting characters, and delight in the magical cures doled out. Perhaps the lure of leadership pills, whisper sticks, or crybaby tonic will have a troublemaker you know searching for the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle in your neighborhood.

I have read this tory to students in my class ranging from kindergartners to third graders. All of my students have enjoyed the story and went on to read the other titles as well. The humor used in the book is very good. Children can relate to some of the problems Miss Piggly Wiggly cures. We even used her humor in class as we decided how some of our personalities fit with the children's in the story. I would highly recommend this story as a read aloud for younger children or independent reading for third grade and higher.

HELLO, MRS. PIGGLE-WIGGLE is a well-written collection of short tales about miscreant children who are cured of their bad behavior by a neighborhood specialist in magical elixirs for children. This expert on children, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, is the unifying element in these stories about a show-off, a crybaby, a bully, a few whisperers, and a slowpoke. Although the plots are formulaic--the problem is revealed, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is consulted, the magic is applied, and the problem is cured--the writing is lively and humorous; the author, Betty MacDonald, has a good ear for dialogue, even if the colloquialisms, some fifty years old, are now terribly dated. (See the vintage television shows "Leave it to Beaver" or "Dennis the Menace" for lessons in Fifties' children's slang as they appear in this book!)

What also strikes me about these stories is that they are all about children who might now be regarded as having psychological or socialization problems; some of them today might even be treated with drugs. In these stories, all of the children are being drugged by their parents, surreptitiously, and they come to enjoy the happy side effects of the various pills, powders and sprays they are subjected to. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, some fifties years later, reads like a neighborhood drug dealer!

My elementary-school aged daughter, however, says that I'm reading far too much into the book. She appreciates the stories for their humor and for their verisimilitude, albeit with exaggerated effects. There is something of Roald Dahl here; I think of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (better known through the movies as WILLY WONKA), with its quasi-morality tale of bratty kids and their just comeuppances. My daughter, hearing this, would tell me to get off my high horse, relax and just enjoy the stories.