Customer Reviews

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I loved reading the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books as a child, and I loved reading "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle", "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic", and "Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" again in this wonderful collection. The only problem is that "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Farm" is not included.

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.

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.

I first read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle in the forth grade, checking it and the other Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books out of my school library. I found Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle very fun to read, and really enjoyed the rest of the books as well. I recently purchased it from Amazon for my 9 year old daughter who loves to read. I took the time to re-read the book before I gave it to her, and it is interesting to read it as an adult. I still found it fun, especially the last chapter, the Fighter-Quarrelers Cure, which I had completely forgotten. (I must say, I am tempted to try the cure one of these days) My daughter seems to agree that this is a fun book, as she had two chapters read before breakfast this morning. I am looking forward to ordering the rest of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, for myself almost as much as for my daughter!

UPDATE~ My daughter finished the book in two days. She loved it and couldn't put it down until she was finished. If you have a child who is a reluctant reader, give Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle a try.

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.

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.

I'M 30 YEARS OLD & I STILL LOVE READING ABOUT MISS PIGGLE-WIGGLE & HER TALES! SHE WAS ALWAYS VERY CLEVER WITH HER SOLUTIONS FOR "NAUGHTY" CHILDREN & I ALWAYS WISHED I COULD HAVE HAD HER FOR A BABY SITTER AND LIVED IN A MISS PIGGLE-WIGGLE WORLD! IN FACT HER BOOKS WERE WHAT MADE ME WANT TO READ AT A TIME WHEN I MADE MY PARENTS LIFE HELL BY REFUSING TO LEARN MY ALPHABET & GET A BOOK WITH WORDS (NOT JUST PICTURES) IN IT. NOW I CAN'T PUT A BOOK DOWN. SOMEDAY I HOPE TO SHARE THE JOY OF READING WITH MY CHILDREN & YOU CAN BET THEY'LL ALL GET THEIR OWN COPIES OF EVERYONE OF HER BOOKS.

From the first chapter, which introduces the character of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, you will wish she were real. It's not just her cleverness with children, it's her rapport with them. She admits that adults make her nervous, and she has little use for adult conventions. Children understand immediately that she is on their side.

She is therefore free to "cure" them of traits that parents might not like, but that their fellow children do not like either: selfishness, rudeness, showing off, and lying, for example. Her "cures" are mostly exercises in reverse psychology, and almost always challenge the parents' assumptions as well.

This is a book of short stories, and the first in a series of four books. You may as well get all four now, because you and the children you read to will not be able to get enough.

Each story takes about twenty minutes to read out loud, and that is the way these stories are meant to be shared (MacDonald wrote them to read aloud to her daughter). Children and adults will laugh, gasp, and nod knowingly at the same points.

The stories have become code-words for managing our household: we all know immediately what the issue is when one of us says, "Aha! An I-Thought-You-Saider." Or "A What'll-I-Doer." Or the ever-popular, "Don't-Want-To-Go-To-Bedder."

In my childhood in the early 1960s, these books were reserved for babysitters to read to us, the result being that we WANTED our parents to go out.

I suggest that you preview each story before using it for a read-aloud session. The values are sometimes out-of-date, and though I think they are harmless, or can easily be handled by supplementary discussion, they might make you uncomfortable. That sounds like a heavy warning, but I do not mean it to be. Just have fun!

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.

I remember reading these books as a child, and I will read these stories to mine. Although a little dated, they are still as delightfully funny as I remember.
The normal things that kids don't want to do are given a new light, and a new way to get them to do it. No matter what the problem is, Mrs. Pigglewiggle always seems to have the cure. And as silly, or strange her cure may seem, it always works!
My favorite story was always "The Selfishness Cure." About a kid who was being selfish, and would share nothing! So Mrs. Pigglewiggle advised his mother to label EVERYTHING he owned. It was an adorable story!
I highly recommend these books. It would be fun for the whole family to get together one night each week, and read one story in this book. That's what I plan to do with my daighter (when she gets a little older, that is.)