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From her upside-down house, the eccentric Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle issues to parents her marvelous cures for such common children's diseases as Won't-Put-Away-Toys-itis, Answerbackism, and Fighter-Quarrelitis.Tags
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An old favorite stands up extremely well, but another entry in the Piggle Wiggle series fails utterly. I can remember reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle with great joy as a very young reader. And when I revisited her in the original volume, all the reasons for that joy came flooding back to me; her upside-down house; her dear departed pirate husband; her quirky costumes; her endless sugar cookies; her enthusiasm for all children's games even when they totally disrupted her home and garden; her wisdom and ingenuity in solving common parenting problems such as "won't pick up toys", "refuses to take a bath" and "never wants to go to bed". The whole book is clever and delightful. In Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic, however, all the cleverness seems to show more have been used up; we still have parents calling on Mrs. PW to "cure" their children of unwanted habits, but in nearly every case this involves some magic powder blown up their noses or sprinkled in their beds, not the inspired solutions of the first book when radish seeds, graduated sets of dishes and a terribly rude Parrot save the day.
january 2016 show less
january 2016 show less
Yes, I know they're for kids. But I love them. Plus, I just recently completed the set, so I figure I can reread them all again now, and then I probably won't touch them until I have my own kids. I think my favorite story in this one is the Raddish cure.
It's interesting to read this as an adult and notice the consistencies in parental dynamics of the families with problem children. Mom notices the problem and deals with it, but first she calls all the other moms and asks them what to do. Dad either a) tells the mother nothing is actually wrong and it's all in her head, or b) takes one look at the problem and heads out to golf with his buddies. Maybe if the dads in this town paid more attention to their kids they wouldn't have so many show more problems, hm?
But then again, it was the 1950s. And at least the problems were easily solved. show less
It's interesting to read this as an adult and notice the consistencies in parental dynamics of the families with problem children. Mom notices the problem and deals with it, but first she calls all the other moms and asks them what to do. Dad either a) tells the mother nothing is actually wrong and it's all in her head, or b) takes one look at the problem and heads out to golf with his buddies. Maybe if the dads in this town paid more attention to their kids they wouldn't have so many show more problems, hm?
But then again, it was the 1950s. And at least the problems were easily solved. show less
Banned books:
Are you there God, its me, Margaret
Huckleberry Finn
Heather has two Mommies
Why are people wasting their time on those well meaning books when Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is still out there on shelves, unchallenged, messing with people's heads?! I read this odd little book when I was about eight and STILL have recurring nightmares about The Radish Cure. I just reread it today, trying to vanquish my fears, and now I'm afraid to go to sleep.
I will not go into details about The Radish Cure except to say that to this day the sight of mud on my skin freaks me out and I have a deep distrust of roots.
Bring on The Satanic Verses, but keep that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle away from me!
Are you there God, its me, Margaret
Huckleberry Finn
Heather has two Mommies
Why are people wasting their time on those well meaning books when Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is still out there on shelves, unchallenged, messing with people's heads?! I read this odd little book when I was about eight and STILL have recurring nightmares about The Radish Cure. I just reread it today, trying to vanquish my fears, and now I'm afraid to go to sleep.
I will not go into details about The Radish Cure except to say that to this day the sight of mud on my skin freaks me out and I have a deep distrust of roots.
Bring on The Satanic Verses, but keep that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle away from me!
I haven't read this book since (I think) second grade, but after picking up a used copy with a thought of passing it along to a friend's child, I was recaptured by the simple stories and the 1940s viewpoint.
We can't even picture the possibility of someone like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle -- the odd little lady with the upside down house where all the children love to play, the lady all the hapless parents call for advice and "cures" for their children's bad behavior. Today, an older lady like that would be considered, at a minimum, mentally questionable and, at worst, dangerous. With so many experts giving conflicting advice to parents about their children's behavior -- in fact, so many conflicting opinions about what IS bad behavior in show more children -- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's odd but oddly sensible cures, which depend on the idea that a child allowed to indulge bad behavior until the negative consequences are apparent to them, could be considered almost cruel.
Thinking about how a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle would appear in 2010 gave me pause when thinking about giving this book to a child today. I'm not sure the stories would be as appealing now as they were to me then (since, when I was 7, I concentrated mostly on how silly the children were and all the delights of the infinitely patient, understanding, and wonderful Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle). I think I'll hunt down the rest of the books and, one day when a particular child is a little older, pass them along as historical documents. show less
We can't even picture the possibility of someone like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle -- the odd little lady with the upside down house where all the children love to play, the lady all the hapless parents call for advice and "cures" for their children's bad behavior. Today, an older lady like that would be considered, at a minimum, mentally questionable and, at worst, dangerous. With so many experts giving conflicting advice to parents about their children's behavior -- in fact, so many conflicting opinions about what IS bad behavior in show more children -- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's odd but oddly sensible cures, which depend on the idea that a child allowed to indulge bad behavior until the negative consequences are apparent to them, could be considered almost cruel.
Thinking about how a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle would appear in 2010 gave me pause when thinking about giving this book to a child today. I'm not sure the stories would be as appealing now as they were to me then (since, when I was 7, I concentrated mostly on how silly the children were and all the delights of the infinitely patient, understanding, and wonderful Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle). I think I'll hunt down the rest of the books and, one day when a particular child is a little older, pass them along as historical documents. show less
Parents in one city turn to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for ludicrous child rearing tips and Saw style punishments to correct various behaviors. More a series of macabre short stories than a novel, really.
These books are kind of oddly meta to read as a kid. Like, you're reading about how grownups are dealing with kids and their less-than-likeable behaviors. What is the goal here? Purely to entertain? To let kids know how they're supposed to be acting? I read these as a child and remember thinking either "that's something I don't do" or "yeah, I do that, and I don't care." I'll read the rest eventually.
This has always been my favorite book. I love how it is written with such whimsical creativity.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- Original title
- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- Original publication date
- 1947; 1957 ('New edition' with new illustrations) ('New edition' with new illustrations)
- People/Characters
- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; Mary Lou Robertson; Kitty Wheeling; Hubert Egbert Prentiss; Mary O'Toole; Dick Thompson (show all 13); Patsy; Bobby Gray; Larry Gray; Susan Gray; Allen; Joan Russell; Anne Russell
- Dedication
- For Anne, Joan, Mari, Salli Heidi, Darsie, Frankie and Stevie
who are perfect angels and couldn't possibly have been the inspiration for any of these stories. - First words
- I expect I might as well begin by telling you all about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle so that whenever I mention her name, which I do very often in this book, you will not interrupt and ask, "Who is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle? What does she loo... (show all)k like? How big is she? How old is she? What color is her hair? Is her hair long? Does she wear high heels? Does she have any children? Is there a Mr. Piggle-Wiggle?"
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Fighter-Quarreleritis was cured.
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