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A review by jennifermreads
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
4.0
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house, with the aroma of freshly baked cookies surrounding her home. All her friends are the children in her neighborhood and, since her husband was a pirate who buried treasure in her backyard, she allows her friends to dig for the treasure that is surely there. But Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle also becomes popular with the neighborhood parents: she seems to have a cure for every case of bad manners!
When I was in first grade, I was a precocious reader. I was inhaling books left and right, and my local librarian had her hands full trying to keep me challenged and entertained. I vividly recall her handing me my first Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book, racing home and being 100% enthralled with the stories. The Radish Cure was especially amusing to me.
I tend to recommend the book to children as well – and I thought I should probably re-read it so that I would have the story fresh in my mind and not tainted by, uh-hum, years.
My re-read had me still utterly enchanted with the upside-down house (oh how I long to take a stroll through its halls!) and the pirate treasure (I never found treasure in mybackyard!) but, of course, there were some concerns that never occurred to me as a child. First of all, there are several mentions of spanking the children – though it should be noted that the spanking didn’t work, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s cure does. I don’t recall even focusing on this bit as a youth but it bothered me to see this much-debated form of punishment mentioned so casually. I also was bothered by the Selfishness Cure as its success really relied on teasing and laughing and, I felt, bordered on bullying. And, of course, this was written in the late 1940s, and the roles of men and women in the house show. My goodness, were men really that uninvolved in their children’s upbringing?!
Despite my grown-up hesitations, I will still recommend this book. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is just too much fun to not populate the lives of children forever!
Note: I recently received an advance reader’s copy of Missy Piggle-Wiggle: apparently Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s niece is taking over with an updated take on the stories. I look forward to reading that and I hope it holds up to the Piggle-Wiggle name.
When I was in first grade, I was a precocious reader. I was inhaling books left and right, and my local librarian had her hands full trying to keep me challenged and entertained. I vividly recall her handing me my first Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book, racing home and being 100% enthralled with the stories. The Radish Cure was especially amusing to me.
I tend to recommend the book to children as well – and I thought I should probably re-read it so that I would have the story fresh in my mind and not tainted by, uh-hum, years.
My re-read had me still utterly enchanted with the upside-down house (oh how I long to take a stroll through its halls!) and the pirate treasure (I never found treasure in mybackyard!) but, of course, there were some concerns that never occurred to me as a child. First of all, there are several mentions of spanking the children – though it should be noted that the spanking didn’t work, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s cure does. I don’t recall even focusing on this bit as a youth but it bothered me to see this much-debated form of punishment mentioned so casually. I also was bothered by the Selfishness Cure as its success really relied on teasing and laughing and, I felt, bordered on bullying. And, of course, this was written in the late 1940s, and the roles of men and women in the house show. My goodness, were men really that uninvolved in their children’s upbringing?!
Despite my grown-up hesitations, I will still recommend this book. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is just too much fun to not populate the lives of children forever!
Note: I recently received an advance reader’s copy of Missy Piggle-Wiggle: apparently Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s niece is taking over with an updated take on the stories. I look forward to reading that and I hope it holds up to the Piggle-Wiggle name.