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Title: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald, Hilary Knight ISBN: 0-06-440148-0 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 09 August, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.46 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The first in a classic read-aloud series
Comment: From the first chapter, which introduces the character of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, you will wish she were real. It's not just her cleverness with children, it's her rapport with them. She admits that adults make her nervous, and she has little use for adult conventions. Children understand immediately that she is on their side.
She is therefore free to "cure" them of traits that parents might not like, but that their fellow children do not like either: selfishness, rudeness, showing off, and lying, for example. Her "cures" are mostly exercises in reverse psychology, and almost always challenge the parents' assumptions as well.
This is a book of short stories, and the first in a series of four books. You may as well get all four now, because you and the children you read to will not be able to get enough.
Each story takes about twenty minutes to read out loud, and that is the way these stories are meant to be shared (MacDonald wrote them to read aloud to her daughter). Children and adults will laugh, gasp, and nod knowingly at the same points.
The stories have become code-words for managing our household: we all know immediately what the issue is when one of us says, "Aha! An I-Thought-You-Saider." Or "A What'll-I-Doer." Or the ever-popular, "Don't-Want-To-Go-To-Bedder."
In my childhood in the early 1960s, these books were reserved for babysitters to read to us, the result being that we WANTED our parents to go out.
I suggest that you preview each story before using it for a read-aloud session. The values are sometimes out-of-date, and though I think they are harmless, or can easily be handled by supplementary discussion, they might make you uncomfortable. That sounds like a heavy warning, but I do not mean it to be. Just have fun!
Rating: 5
Summary: It's fun to be bad!!!
Comment:
Remember the kid who'd never share? Who refused to take baths? Who always had a smart remark? So does Betty MacDonald, and she describes them with great humor and affection in this terrific book.
Whether you're a kid who is sick of listening to adults' constant nagging or a parent who is at the end of their rope, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is sure to make you laugh. It is the story of a lovable woman who has a knack for curing children of their bad habits, sometimes through reverse psychology and sometimes through magical remedies. Even the holiest terrors turn out to be thoroughly charming young people once Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle gets through with them.
I love this book because it gives kids credit coming up with all sorts of creative ways to drive their parents nuts (I'm sure even the saintliest of readers will recognize some of their own behavior in these chapters). Mothers are also given credit for putting up with exasperating kids, grumpy husbands, and thankless jobs like housework.
Ultimately, this story is really saying that kids use being bad as a way to have fun, while parents use discipline as a way to remain sane. Each side will probably be more sympathetic to the other after reading this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Excellent Book for All Children
Comment: I first read these books when I was young. While some of the themes may at first seem outdated for todays generation, the lessons that these books teach span all ages and cultures. Every parent has had a situation with one of their children that resembles one of these stories. Children can get a laugh out of the lighthearted humor, and still learn valuable lessons about their behavior and about right etiquette.
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Title: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald, Hilary Knight ISBN: 0064401510 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 09 August, 1985 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald, Hilary Knight ISBN: 0064401499 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 09 August, 1985 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm by Betty MacDonald, Maurice Sendak ISBN: 0064401502 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 09 August, 1985 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater, Florence Atwater ISBN: 0316058432 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 02 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Ericsson Lindgren, Louis S. Glanzman, Florence Lamborn ISBN: 0140309578 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: May, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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