The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books are an interesting sort of children’s tales. Throughout the books, we’re introduced to familys with strange names, where always and without fail, the children are in some way, shape, or form misbehaving. One thing leads to another, their mother¹ is at her wit’s end, and… they call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and she saves the day.

Originally published 1947-1957, the first four books are very much a product of their times. The family dynamics, the problems the children have, and even some of the (less magical) solutions. Yet a lot of the problems ring true, even today.

We’ve been listening to the 4 of the 5 books we’ve found audiobooks for in a somewhat random order. Mostly, the order doesn’t matter. Each story is fairly self contained–with the exception of book 3: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s farm, in which she’s moved out of town. Except in book 4, she’s back and no mention is made ever again. Anyways.

The last, published in book 5, actually fits fairly well with the first 4, despite the fact that it was published 50 years later by MacDonald’s daughter. Honestly, on just listening to them, it didn’t feel all that different.

I think the main decider on if I’d like a particular story or not depended entirely on how magical the solution was. While they’re all somewhat unbelievable (a day or two staying up late curing a TV addiction? sure), I like the ones with a practical solution. In particular, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1), her Farm (3), and Happy Birthday (5) are my favorites. Conversely, her Magic (2) and Hello (4) are much more about magical pills and tonics that miraculously solve problems–not particularly applicable that, even if they are fun to read about.

Overall, they’re a lot of fun to read/listen to and I don’t expect they’ll go away any time soon.

• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Herself - An introduction and a great realistic solution: gamification!
• The Won’t-Pick-Up-Toys-Cure - I haven’t had much luck with this one yet; it’s amazing how much kids will just walk around. But it’s cute.
• The Answer-Backer Cure - Using a parrot to teach how annoying talking back is… is delightful. A bit magical.
• The Selfishness Cure - A bit destructive, but workable.
• The Radish Cure - Dirty enough to grow radishes. I know at least one child that would find that a perfect answer.
• The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure - I’m not sure that just a few examples would permanently solve the problem, but it fits.
• The Fighter-Quarrelers Cure - A bit silly, but non-magical. I don’t know if children would necessarily attach their parents’ behavior to their own, but doing strange things is nevertheless a good way to get attention.