Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

I enjoyed these as a child (a LONG time ago!) but it still resonates!! So appreciate the new material!

the book I read is the newest in a series 50+ yrs old, the last of the 4 originals was published in 1957; after the author died, her daughter found unpublished work & added to it to create another bk following the same format as the originals; Mrs Piggle Wiggle was married to a pirate who died; she lives in an upside down house w/5 pets & gets along great w/children; she seems like all she does is play, but she teaches lessons along the way w/magic "cures" for all kinds of problems parents have w/their kids; I think the bks appeal to children of multiple generations because kids are the central characters, there are silly names, animals, & issues common to children & parents, but w/the fun of magic touches & solutions; a key ingredient to the success of the "cures", aside from the magic, is the fact that Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has intimate knowledge of each child & teams w/parents to solve problems wo/the kids knowing she has a role; though the original bks were published in the 1940s & 1950s & set in what was typical for that mid 20th century era, the newest bk carries out the same idea successfully because the issues common to children & parents remain constant through multiple generations - over indulgence in media, bedtime struggles, won't brush teeth, insulting peers, picky eater, fear of failure/afraid to try new things, messy habits, not following through on tasks, etc; as a parent of an ADHD child, I could not help but clearly see that the 4th grade girl in the "never-finish" vignette suffers from ADHD; instead of "accomplishment powder" sprinkled on her hands & feet during sleep to help her stick to tasks till completion, medication might be in order!; fun to see parallels between real life elements & those in the latest bk, such as cereal & media star names; as a parent, it was frustrating to see parents in the bks so helpless as to how to address kids behavior issues, however, this is part of the story; you have to forget about the parents needing to use common sense & get firm holds of situations where kids are out of control, because this where Mrs Piggle-Wiggle comes in to save the day w/magic & behind the scenes child psychology in each scenario; the latest bk in the series was published by the original author's daughter 50 yrs after the last one by her mother; it is fitting that the title & ending vignette are celebrating the unknown birthday of the timeless central character; I read the newest bk to prepare me as a parent to oversee & aid my 3rd grade child in doing a fantasy book report; the target audience of the Piggle-Wiggle series is early elementary age children, however, there is definite appeal to adults/parents too; these would be excellent for parents & kids to read together, or for teachers to use to launch creative thinking/writing projects in class

My students love Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

Grand daughter loved the book

I loved this book so much. I love Mrs. Piggle wiggle and have read every story to my girls throughout their childhood. I ordered this for summer fun read aloud at bedtime and it was fantastic! My girls, 10 and even the 13 yr old were excited to read this each night. I will treasure this book for life!

I bought this because my daughter went on & on about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle after Preschool, so going into Kindergarten I wanted to get her a book to practice reading...Well, this is not the large-sized book I thought it was. It's a small, hardcover book, and very few pictures, NOT for a beginner reader! She still loves the stories but asks if there are pictures while I'm reading to her. I show her the few there are when we come across them but...was overall disappointed in this book...guess that's what you get buying online...I'll go to Barnes & Noble next time...FYI: It's not a book about a birthday either...it's a collection of stories about childrens' bad habits and how Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle uses her seemingly magical powers to cure each of them. (My girls love stories about birthdays so I struck out there too!) lol

I love Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and grew up on the four books Betty MacDonald wrote. So did our girls. This one has one story by Betty and several that her daughter wrote, using notes she found after her mother’s death. I want to like it more, but it’s just not as good. A little too much deux et machina (the picky eater) and not enough Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.But as a woman whose mother has died, I can appreciate what went into writing these stories based on her mother’s words. That can’t have been easy. I think I am most soured by the way she hardly seems to acknowledge her mother, the original author, In her notes at the front of the book.

Never can go wrong with Mrs Piggle Wiggle. Passing this tradition forward.

I am a real fan of Betty MacDonald, and started reading her books as soon as I could, aged about 11, as my mother had them all plus 1 of her children's books. I read about Ann and Joan (Betty's children) and was surprised to see Ann was co-author. Much as I wanted it to be like the old books, it wasn't really similar, so I was a bit disappointed. Never mind, still good stories and, and I will be reading it to my grandchildren anyway.

Clever stories of how to achieve change effortlessly.