A review by kalebprice
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

2.0


For such a short children’s book, it sure was a slog. 
The book starts strong with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle being introduced as a quirky lady whose house is upside down and who loves children. But she’s never more than a voice on a phone call through the rest of the book. Every chapter uses the same structure 1. A kid is bad. 2. The mother frets and calls her neighbors before someone finally suggest calling Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. 3. Mrs PW suggest her “cure” (let the consequences of their actions catch up to them). 4. Kid decides to do better 

It’s very tedious. The phone call section is a very long part of the stories and never interesting. Since neighbors have funny names, but that’s the only entertaining part.

I had expected Mrs. PW to be a pippi longstocking/Mary Poppins/Willy Wonka type character who is fun and eccentric and maybe just a little bit magical. Instead she’s just a lady who gives advice over the phone in 2-3 paragraphs then exits the story. 

The book would have been much more fun if the “cures” happened at Mrs PW’s house. She could have been the central character doling out lessons without the kids realizing what she was doing. Instead it’s a string of mom’s who aren’t really distinguishable. And the moms, not the children or Mrs PW, are the POV characters.

Hard to say if I would have liked this more if I were a kid, but I don’t think so because I still would have wanted more fun or magic in the cures instead of a worried mom being the central character of each chapter.