Friday, July 8, 2016

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald & Illus by Hilary Knight


Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Oh, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Have you heard of Scribd? Up until last year it was an unlimited audiobook site. They have a lot of kids books and my kids discovered Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. There are several books and we listened to each one about 25 times. 

These books are simple, fun, and entertaining. They have chapters, which are more like short stories with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to unite them. Characters from earlier chapters pop up in later chapters making this book seem realistically neighborhoodly. All my kids, 4-10, love these books. But the older kids are growing tired of listening to them more quickly than the 4 and 6 year old, who would listen to them non-stop if I let them. 

(As a side note, Scribd is now like Audible.com, with only one credit per month, with the large difference of a pretty awesome collection of kids books that are free listens. They have a rotating unlimited listen collection for adults as well. It is also cheaper than Audible--currently $8.99/month. But.... I am currently subscribed to both Scribd and Audible. Audible does have a better selection of adult books than Scribd does. Unfortunately, my promotional rate with Audible is ending, so I am going to have to make the difficult decision to part ways. Unless they give me a free book.... I am such a sucker.)


Kids love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle because doing things like this at Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's house causes no one to bat an eye or remind you of the cost of electricity. 


Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside down house, has infinite patience and interest in children, and a very quirky life view. 

Everyone loves Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. 


Here is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle teaching girls how to enjoy making beds and washing Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has the uncanny ability to know exactly what will help kids stop misbehaving. And her methods are almost always fun for the child. 


Hubert Prentiss had too many toys and he wouldn't pick up. 


After attempts to correct the behavior themselves (usually failed attempts), parents suddenly remember Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. She reassures them about the normalness of the behavior and tells them how to fix it. For Hubert, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle suggested letting him live in his cluttered room until he couldn't get out. 


Mary O'Toole had a heavy dose of attitude. 


So Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle gave her a sassy parrot, Penelope. Penelope gave the kids one of their favorite lines--I'll do it because I want to, but not because you told me to. And also Say, who's the boss around here? 

Mary learns what it is like to live with an answer-backer.


Dick Thompson was obnoxiously selfish. 


He soon learned to share. 


Little Patsy throws a temper tantrum at the sight of a bath tub.


Her mother calls the other mother's to see if they have any trouble with baths. After several calls--

...she was feeling rather depressed because it seemed that bathing was the most popular indoor sport with every child in down but her own dirty little girl. 

As much as the kids love these stories, I enjoy them too. Maybe I just have a juvenile sense of humor, but they make me laugh. The other parents always have ridiculous names. Mrs. Broomrack, Mrs. Ragbag, Mrs. Keystop.


Bobby, Sue, and Larry Gray never want to go to bed on time. 


So they stayed up late for several nights until they saw the wisdom of going to sleep on time.


Allen is a poky eater. 


Joan and Anne are quarrelers from morning to night. In desperation, their parents remember Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. 


Who instructs their parents to show them what it is like to live with fighter-quarrelers. 

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