Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald

Oh my goodness. I had forgotten how much I loved the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. Every book is a collection of children with bad manners who are taught how to behave through some magical cure provided by Mrs. P-W. This particular book includes the tattle-tale cure (every time the children tattle, a big cloud with a tail forms above their heads), the interrupter cure (when someone tries to interrupt, their mouth either stays open or opens and shuts without noise), the sloppy eater cure (pig teaches child how to eat)and, one of my favorites, the cure for a heedless child (pills that make the child slow down so she has time to think before she breaks things.

Of course, none of these would work for today's kids (notwithstanding the fact that none of these things actually exist) but it's still a cute lesson for kids on how to behave.

Four stars
This book came out in 1949

Follows Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Followed by Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm by Betty MacDonald

I like the first two books in the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series but after that... eh. The books are usually charming with their magical realism. This book features a lot more magic, a lot less realism.

We start off with the Not Truthfulness Cure. We've got a young gentleman who can't seem to tell the truth and there are a lot of different stories going around town. So he's left with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for a month. Yes. His parents just drop him off at a woman's farm, out of town (she's moved since the first two books) and this is someone they don't really know. Okay. 

Next up is the Pet-forgotten cure where a little girl can't take care of her many, many pets. 

In the Destructiveness Cure, we meet Jeffy who likes to take things apart. Of course, being at Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's will show him why that's not a good idea. Suddenly in this book, Penelope the parrot, who was a regular parrot before, talks in full sentences.

There is also the Fraidy-Cat Cure. Phoebe is scared of everything but when Mrs Piggle-Wiggle gets trapped and getting over being a fraidy cat has to happen quickly.

Lastly we have the Can't Find It Cure where Morton comes up with a fabulous treasure... which was how the last book ended.

You can probably tell that I was frustrated with this book as being a retread of a lot of earlier stories.

Two stars

This book came out in 1954

Follows Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic

Followed by Hello Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

I adored these books as a child. Kid doesn't want to take a bath? Let her get dirty enough to plant radishes on. Child doesn't want to clean up his toys? Well, let ti get to a point that he can't get out of his room and then throw a parade. I loved this book because Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was so pragmatic. It was magic and yet not. 

As an adult, I don't like the references to the outdated notions of how Native Americans behaved nor the fact that the mothers defer to the fathers in everything and that the fathers are so quick to mete out corporal punishment. Would a child notice these things? Maybe not. These things are (in my opinion) light and could probably be omitted if read aloud. 

Four stars

This book came out in 1947

Followed by Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby February 2023