Read Aloud #51: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
illustrated by Hilary Knight


Pages: 119
Finished: Oct. 17, 2007
Reason for Reading: I read this to my older son when he was about the same age, and I was pretty sure ds7 would enjoy it too.
First Published: 1947
Genre: children, fantasy, humour
Rating: 4/5


First Sentence:

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 look 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?"

Comments: This is a hilarious, rollicking-good-fun read aloud. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and knows everything there is to know about children. She also has the most wonderful cures for common childhood ailments such as won't-pick-up-toy-itis and won't-take-a-bath-itis. Told in an episodic format, each chapter is it's own little story. I believe some of the chapters have been published as picture books also. My 7yo enjoyed this very much. We both laughed out loud and both have the same favourite chapter which is the story of the little girl who wouldn't wash and ended up having radishes growing out of her forehead. I've read this book several times now but haven't read any of the sequels but I think I may have to change that. I also must mention that the Hilary Knight (best known for the Eloise books) illustrations are adorable.

Dad has just finished reading the 15th Magic Tree House book, Viking Ships at Sunrise, and they have decided that it's time to move on from this series.

We haven't finished any non-fiction since the last update.