“Girls! Do I need to call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle?”
Yes, I actually said that this morning from the shower.
I don’t know about you, but I could use someone around my house who doesn’t get the least bit perturbed at the marker messes and confetti showers two little girls can create out of well-intentioned art projects, who keeps high heels for little girls to wear for dress up, and who leaves her her long “so the children can comb it” ( 10). Most useful, however, would be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s uncanny ability to cure the most aggravating and stubborn of childhood ailments: Answer-Backishness, Selfishness, and my own personal nemesis, Fighter-Quarrelitis. Despite her rather unique and successful approach to discipline, the children love her. Does anyone know her phone number or how much she might charge to whip my household into shape?
My girls and I just finished up this delightful story by Betty MacDonald over lunch today. (Betty MacDonald also wrote the book The Egg and I which was adapted into a delightfully funny film which, if I remember correctly, was the debut of Ma and Pa Kettle.) Lulu listened with twinkling eyes to a tale of yet another type of childish misbehavior. Louise gleefully shouted “Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!” when I paused for a response to just whom the hapless parents of the Fighter-Quarreler twins, Joan and Anne, could call. I must admit that part of me just hoped that my girls would not “catch” any of the “diseases” we read about, while the other part of me read this as a cautionary tale or morality story to teach them a lesson. The methodologies and names in this story are rather out of date and non-PC, but it is a rollicking good story.
**Quotation is from the 1975 HarperCollins edition of the book.
Filed under: Education, Juvenile Fiction, Read Aloud Thursday |
Hope Is the Word 
I only recently discovered Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle but I LOVE her! Great books!
I think I may need to give her a call myself. Let me know if you get her number. 🙂
[…] In addition to our usual cache of picture books, we have also been reading through chapter books at lunch. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is our latest completed story. […]
I loved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle:) Can’t wait to share with my youngest.
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books were favorites when my brother and I were children, and all of my children have loved them , too!
If you can find a copy, read Onions in the Stew. It’s Betty MacDonald’s real life with her twin daughters Joan and Anne. Hilarious!
One of my all-time favorite books from childhood. I have read The Egg and I, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. The only upside to the book is that she lived in Sequim, WA, while working the chicken farm, and I used to live very near there. But other than that, it’s not quite as enjoyable as the Piggle-Wiggle books.
We need to read mrs. piggle wiggle. A couple excerpts were highlighted in my son’s writing exercises and they had me laughing out loud. Thanks for the review. Will be putting it on my list for the next book buy-o-rama.
[…] Biblauragraphy (Wintergirls)2. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle)3. Carol (Dr. Seuss Goes to War)4. Page Turner (Nathan Coulter – Wendell Berry)5. SmallWorld Reads […]
[…] — hopeistheword @ 6:20 am A few weeks ago we were at the library and we had just returned Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, so we were in need of a new chapter book read aloud. Lulu and Louise are in that in-between […]
I randomly found your blog– and I love it. And I adore all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books!
[…] things Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The girls loved this book and its sequel, found it hilarious, and much to my chagrin, actually “got” the mischief […]