Friday, January 28, 2011

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

Just finished reading this to my young son. It was written in 1947 and is set in a charming era; however, the story itself did not appeal to me. The woman lives in an upside down house and is popular with the neighborhood children. Most of the chapters revolve around a child with a behavior problem that his or her mother just cannot seem to deal with. After soliciting advice from other mothers without success, they each end up calling Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, who comes up with the cure for their child. Some were ridiculously silly, like the radish cure, for the child who would not take a bath. The mother is told to let the child go without a bath until so much dirt has accumulated on her skin that radishes can be planted on her. My son thought this was dumb. But most of the others were funny and my son found them to be entertaining. The children's rude or unbecoming behavior did lead to some discussions about proper behavior with my son.  Easy to read and mildly engaging for only young children. 

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