History Literature / MrsPigglewiggle

-->''This is how Samantha knew she was growing up: She didn't cry. She didn't accuse her parents of torturing her or abandoning her. She simply said. "All right. I'll make my own dinner." ... ... When Edison and Trillium returned two hours later, they found a clean house, the dishwasher humming, and Samantha finishing her homework while Penelope dozed on her perch.''

The stories were originally bedtime-stories she told to her daughters (Anne and Joan--see "The Fighter-Quarrelers Cure") and later her nieces/nephews and still later to her grandchildren. This accounts for some of the inconsistencies. (Some 'cures' being simple reverse psychology, others having an element of magic or fantasy.)

* ''Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle'' (1947; illustrations by Richard Bennett)
* ''Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic'' (1949; illustrations by Kurt Wiese)
* ''Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm'' (1954; illustrations by Creator/MauriceSendak)
* ''Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle'' (1957; illustrations by [[Literature/{{Eloise}} Hilary Knight]])

A fifth book was left unfinished at the time of Betty [=MacDonald=]'s death in 1958. It was completed by her daughter, Anne [=MacDonald=] Canham (with illustrations by Alexandra Boiger), and published in 2007 as ''Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle''.

In 2016, a new spin-off of the series, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'' was released, featuring Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's spunky niece Missy Piggle-Wiggle, written by Creator/AnnMMartin and Annie Parnell, with illustrations by Ben Hatke. Following the success of this first book in the new series, a second, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Won't-Walk-the-Dog Cure'' was [[https://www.amazon.com/Missy-Piggle-Wiggle-Wont-Walk-Dog-Cure/dp/1250071704 released]] on September 5, 2017. A third title, ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Sticky-Fingers Cure'', was [[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250132290/ released]] on September 4, 2018.

* AdoptAServant: Mentioned in the first story; Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's first child friend is a girl running away from home because she hates to wash dishes. She claims while upset that her mother probably just got her from an orphanage to have someone to do the chore. The author interjects a bit later that this is incorrect.
%%* {{Aesoptinum}}
%%* AppliedPhlebotinum: Various magic cures.
* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare: At the end of "The Selfishness Cure", Dick doesn't want his dinner plate marked anymore, and his mother agrees not to do so if he shares his chocolate cake with the dog. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

* HiddenSupplies: Mr. Piggle-Wiggle hid his fortune--gold, silver, cash, and jewels--in all kinds of secret places around Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's house, such as a drawer behind another drawer or a cubbyhole in the attic. In general, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle spends what she needs; when it begins to run low, she searches for another stash.

* MondegreenGag: Mishearing words is the basis for the story "The Thought-You-Saiders Cure". The three Burbank children keep thinking that other people are saying things that vaguely sound like what they're being told (e.g., "get the cinnamon roll" for "fill the sugar bowl"). According to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, it's recently become somewhat of an epidemic. The cure is a magic powder that gives the afflicted SuperHearing.
* MrImagination: Harbin Quadrangle from "The Slowpoke" takes a long time to do anything partly because of his vivid imagination, which can be triggered by just about anything. During the first part of the story, he goes through a huge number of fantasy lives, including being a Mountie, a pearl diver, and a captive.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:

** The plot outline changed a little after the author added magic powers to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's repertoire. For example, the Whisper Sticks - sweet candy canes given to two little girls who whisper incessantly, so that they can't do anything ''but'' [[AndIMustScream whisper]] and end up in a huge fight.

%%* TeamMom: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
* TheFifties

%%* TheMusical: Written for Seattle Children's Theatre.

%%* TreasureMap

%%* WidowWitch

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Many of the cures are only necessary because the parents actively let it get to that point, through either overindulging a child or trying to be too controlling in general. If Hubert Prentiss's mother hadn't kept caving and cleaning up his room for him, Hubert would have discovered years ago that if he didn't want to step on blocks and wanted a place to sleep, he'd better clean it up. In other cases, the parents undermined their own authority by using BecauseISaidSo in place of actual reasons, so their children simply don't listen to them anymore because it seems like they don't know what they're talking about. Generally, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is the last resort: only a few consult an expert when a problem comes up.

** A more localized incident appears in Lester's first story. The mother of the boy who Lester is teaching unthinkingly serves spareribs for dinner and Lester [[GreenAroundTheGills quickly goes green]] [[IAteWhat when he realizes]] [[ImAHumanitarian just what he ate]] though good manners prevent him from allowing his discomfort to be known. Then the boy comes downstairs the next day to his mother making bacon and promptly scolds her for being so rude to Lester. She's horrified when her son points out the problem and quickly sends her husband the bacon, airs out the kitchen to get rid of the smell, and prepares an alternate breakfast for her son and Lester.

* ThePigPen: Patsy from the first book becomes this as a result of not taking a bath for quite some time.

* CelibateHero: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is never mentioned as being so much as interested in other men after the death of her husband. And in ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'', in which he's not dead, she sets off on a journey to find him after he goes missing. By the time of ''The Sticky-Fingers Cure'', she's found him and the two have set off on a world tour together.

In 2016, a new spin-off of the series, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'' was released, featuring Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's spunky niece Missy Piggle-Wiggle, written by creator/AnnMMartin and Annie Parnell, with illustrations by Ben Hatke. Following the success of this first book in the new series, a second, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Won't-Walk-the-Dog Cure'' was [[https://www.amazon.com/Missy-Piggle-Wiggle-Wont-Walk-Dog-Cure/dp/1250071704 released]] on September 5, 2017. A third title, ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Sticky-Fingers Cure'', was [[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250132290/ released]] on September 4, 2018.

In 2016, a new spin-off of the series, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'' was released, featuring Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's spunky niece Missy Piggle-Wiggle, written by Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell, with illustrations by Ben Hatke. Following the success of this first book in the new series, a second, titled ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Won't-Walk-the-Dog Cure'' was [[https://www.amazon.com/Missy-Piggle-Wiggle-Wont-Walk-Dog-Cure/dp/1250071704 released]] on September 5, 2017. A third title, ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Sticky-Fingers Cure'', was [[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250132290/ released]] on September 4, 2018.

* NecessaryEvil: Well, "evil" is too strong a word, but some of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's cures are terrifyingly extreme--using a magic tonic to make a child incredibly stupid (to the point where he's having emotional breakdowns), exhausting children by letting them stay up all night, "forgetting" to feed a child and leaving her out all night...granted, she never goes ''too'' far, but her remedies are still somewhat unsettling. However, they prove to be just what the doctor ordered in terms of fixing bad habits.

%%* CoolOldLady: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

%%* TrashOfTheTitans: Hubert Prentiss

* NobodyLikesATattletale: The third chapter of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic is about siblings Wendy and Timmy frequently tattling on each other for minor things. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's cure for this is the two being given pills that result in the tattletales turning into black puffs of smoke with tails; the only way to get rid of them is to not give into the temptation to tattle.

%%* ThePigPen: Patsy

* CryingARiver: Melody Foxglove cries excessively so she gets given something called Crybaby Tonic which makes her unable to stop crying. She then fills entire rooms and a school field with her tears.

* BackhandedApology: In ''Missy Piggy-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'', the first stage of said Whatever Cure involves the child being cured being magically placed in a floating bubble whenever they do something incosiderate. They can get out of it if they apologize, but as Frankfort Freeforall discovers, "Veronica, I'm sorry you're such a crybaby" won't work. It just causes the bubble to swoop up even higher.

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: How the Leadership Pills work on Nicholas and other bullies. They cause the person to develop empathy and a HeelRealization, so that Nicholas goes to apologize to the boy whose leg he injured. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle implies that the sensation of GoodFeelsGood means that Nick eventually will reform on his own.
* HeelRealization: A few stories feature parents realizing that their own indulgence and poor parenting has made their children turn out bad. A prime example is "The Bully": Mrs. Semicolon praises her son Nick for being bigger and stronger than other children, never once considering that he's using that size and strength to hurt them. When Nick uses a pair of heavy brogues to seriously harm another boy, Mrs. Semicolon blames her ''husband'' for letting their son wear them, prompting Mr. Semicolon to point out that Nick was the one who kicked the child, not the shoes.

** Nick seriously injures a boy's leg by kicking him in the shin with heavy brogues. Mrs. Semicolon goes OhCrap when the boy's mother calls in a fury, and the father very nearly goes PapaWolf when Nick under the influence of Leadership Pills is compelled to apologize.

* NotGoodWithPeople : Played with. Although Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle will happily discuss the children's problems over the phone when the parents call, she does not invite adult guests over or socialize with them like she does with the neighborhood kids, saying adults make her nervous. (This would be considered creepy today.)

The stories were originally bedtime-stories she told to her daughters (Annie and Joan--see "The Fighter-Quarrelers Cure") and later her nieces/nephews and still later to her grandchildren. This accounts for some of the inconsistencies. (Some 'cures' being simple reverse psychology, others having an element of magic or fantasy.)

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: How the leadership pills work on Nick and other bullies. They cause the person to develop empathy and a HeelRealization, so that Nick goes to apologize to the boy whose arm he broke. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle implies that the sensation of GoodFeelsGood means that Nick eventually will reform on his own.
* HeelRealization: A few stories feature parents realizing that their own indulgence and poor parenting has made their children turn out bad. A prime example is "The Bully": Mrs. Semicolon praises her son Nick for being bigger and stronger than other children, never once considering that he's using that size and strength to hurt them. When Nick uses a pair of heavy workboots to seriously harm another boy, Mrs. Semicolon blames her ''husband'' for letting their son wear them, prompting Mr. Semicolon to point out that Nick was the one who kicked the child, not the shoes.

* IgnoredEpiphany: When they are grocery shopping, Nick spitefully breaks another boy's carton of eggs that he is getting for his mother. His mother makes him switch the eggs and use his allowance to buy graham crackers as an ApologyGift. Nick doesn't get it until he's fed Leadership Pills.

** Nick breaks a boy's arm by knocking him to the ground and stomping on him with workboots. Mrs. Semicolon goes OhCrap when the boy's mother calls in a fury, and the father very nearly goes PapaWolf when Nick under the influence of Leadership Pills is compelled to apologize.

** ''Dick'' Thompson in "The Selfish Boy Cure", at least before his redemption.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Many of the cures are only necessary because the parents actively let it get to that point, through either overindulging a child or trying to be too controlling in general. If Herbert Prentiss's mother hadn't kept caving and cleaning up his room for him, Herbert would have discovered years ago that if he didn't want to step on blocks and wanted a place to sleep, he'd better clean it up. In other cases, the parents undermined their own authority by using BecauseISaidSo in place of actual reasons, so their children simply don't listen to them anymore because it seems like they don't know what they're talking about. Generally, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is the last resort: only a few consult an expert when a problem comes up.

** A more localized incident appears in Lester's first story. The mother of the boy who Lester is teaching unthinkingly serves pork chops for dinner and Lester [[GreenAroundTheGills quickly goes green]] [[IAteWhat when he realizes]] [[ImAHumanitarian just what he ate]] though good manners prevent him from allowing his discomfort to be known. Then the boy comes downstairs the next day to his mother making bacon and promptly scolds her for being so rude to Lester. She's horrified when her son points out the problem and quickly sends her husband the bacon, airs out the kitchen to get rid of the smell, and prepares an alternate breakfast for her son and Lester.

* ThemeNaming: A great deal of the background names in the books are extremely stuffy and/or formed from non-name words, like Ermintrude Broomrack or Guinevere Gardenfield.

** The cure for children who want to stay up all night is just to ''let them.'' The children end up discovering that it's annoying to be tired all the time during the day, and then when they fall asleep at a movie première they'd been looking forward to for ages, that's the last straw.

* CelibateHero: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is never mentioned as being so much as interested in other men after the death of her husband. And in ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'', in which he's not dead, [[DeterminedWidow she sets off on a journey to find him after he goes missing]]. By the time of ''The Sticky-Fingers Cure'', she's found him and the two have set off on a world tour together.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The books' [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters loads and loads of kids with bad habits]] are reduced to a small regular cast who repeatedly need cures.

* AdultFear: There are a few examples:
** Nick breaks a boy's arm by knocking him to the ground and stomping on him with workboots. Mrs. Semicolon goes OhCrap when the boy's mother calls in a fury, and the father very nearly goes PapaWolf when Nick under the influence of Leadership Pills is compelled to apologize.
** When Phoebe goes to stay with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, the lady falls in her basement, spraining her ankle. Phoebe is worried about her and motivated to get help from the nearby doctor. He says with relief that she should recover nicely. It's unknown if Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle engineered the situation or if she knew that eventually, Phoebe would have to rise to the occasion.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: "The Waddle-I-Doers", the final story in "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic," lacks the magical cures of the rest of the book. Instead, Lee and Mimi Wharton are bored by the rain (which isn't terribly bad) and go to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's for a party with all of the other neighborhood children, where she tells them that she's run out of money and fears for the future. This leads the kids to search the house for the hidden drawers, containers, and other concealed places where Mr. Piggle-Wiggle left a fortune. In the end, Mimi discovers the biggest cache of all in the attic, saving Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle from destitution. The ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle'' books make this sort of thing a more regular feature of the story, by having chapters both at the beginning and end of each book that aren't about magical cures, but instead just have to do with fleshing out the ongoing story.

* ''Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle'' (1957; illustrations by Hilary Knight)

A series of books by Betty [=McDonald=] about a small old lady who lives in an upside-down house. She spends her time curing children's bad habits with magical cures left by her dead husband. A light-hearted critique of modern parenting with two sets of [[AnAesop Aesops]], one for children about the fact there are consequences to their actions and one for parents about how it's important to let their children learn these things for themselves.

In 1994 the books were adapted into a short-lived TV series starring Jean Stapleton in the title role.

* ImagineTheAudienceNaked: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Sticky-Fingers Cure]]''. When Melody tells Missy that they have to give oral reports at school and she ''hates'' talking in front the class, the narration notes that most adults would suggest to her that on report day, she imagine her classmates sitting in their underwear, but Missy knew that wouldn't make a bit of difference. She instead has Melody practice with her and continue practicing repeatedly with her parents until she can walk into the classroom with confidence.

* RadishCure: The usual method by which Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's cures work. The TropeNamer comes from a story where a little girl hates taking baths. Her family lets her go unbathed for ''quite'' some time. Eventually, she is covered in a layer of dirt thick enough that her parents secretly plant radish seeds there. The seeds sprout in a day or two, and when the girl sees them, a FreakOut ensues. She screams for a bath, her parents have her take a shower instead, which she willingly stays in for hours until she is spotless, and she never wants to go without her nightly bath again.