Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cracks me up. This was another book my first grade teacher read to us, and if I hadn't already loved reading, I would have started then. These stories sure made me think about my actions, and they made me glad that my mom and dad were not like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Planting radish seeds in dirty ears, I tell you, that story really made me keep my ears clean for the rest of my life! ( )

I loved reading about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as a kid and can't wait for my kids to enjoy the books too. ( )

The premise is that a semi-magical woman prescribes fanciful cures for children's behavior problems, like the mother who gives her bragging child a dose of medicine that makes him invisible when he shows off. Fun for children and for parents. However, I did a lot of editing as a read aloud for my preschoolers. The children (who are bad, as the story line necessitates) are disrespectful to parents, unkind to siblings and so on. It's dramatic and obvious, and I think a slightly older child would easily understand the moral tone. But preschoolers are at the imitative stage, and the conversations are not those I'd like imitated. So I modified some of the speech, or editorialized it ("Johnny was rude to his sister"). The kids enjoyed it, even though the discipline methods in the book are quite different than what they enjoy. Maybe when they're older it will provide a fun discussion of "getting children to behave."

So many fond childhood memories! These are delightful stories! ( )

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's remedies are magical, but the maladies she treats are all too recognizable - in my grand-daughter, in my daughter's childhood, and, oh my, in my own! ( )