Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

I read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books when I was a child (57+ years ago) and really enjoyed and remembered them. For example, I have never forgotten the "Radish Cure." I ordered several books this Christmas for my granddaughter and hope she enjoys them as much as I did. They are funny and well-written.They are easy to read for a well-read child.

the book I read is the newest in a series 50+ yrs old, the last of the 4 originals was published in 1957; after the author died, her daughter found unpublished work & added to it to create another bk following the same format as the originals; Mrs Piggle Wiggle was married to a pirate who died; she lives in an upside down house w/5 pets & gets along great w/children; she seems like all she does is play, but she teaches lessons along the way w/magic "cures" for all kinds of problems parents have w/their kids; I think the bks appeal to children of multiple generations because kids are the central characters, there are silly names, animals, & issues common to children & parents, but w/the fun of magic touches & solutions; a key ingredient to the success of the "cures", aside from the magic, is the fact that Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has intimate knowledge of each child & teams w/parents to solve problems wo/the kids knowing she has a role; though the original bks were published in the 1940s & 1950s & set in what was typical for that mid 20th century era, the newest bk carries out the same idea successfully because the issues common to children & parents remain constant through multiple generations - over indulgence in media, bedtime struggles, won't brush teeth, insulting peers, picky eater, fear of failure/afraid to try new things, messy habits, not following through on tasks, etc; as a parent of an ADHD child, I could not help but clearly see that the 4th grade girl in the "never-finish" vignette suffers from ADHD; instead of "accomplishment powder" sprinkled on her hands & feet during sleep to help her stick to tasks till completion, medication might be in order!; fun to see parallels between real life elements & those in the latest bk, such as cereal & media star names; as a parent, it was frustrating to see parents in the bks so helpless as to how to address kids behavior issues, however, this is part of the story; you have to forget about the parents needing to use common sense & get firm holds of situations where kids are out of control, because this where Mrs Piggle-Wiggle comes in to save the day w/magic & behind the scenes child psychology in each scenario; the latest bk in the series was published by the original author's daughter 50 yrs after the last one by her mother; it is fitting that the title & ending vignette are celebrating the unknown birthday of the timeless central character; I read the newest bk to prepare me as a parent to oversee & aid my 3rd grade child in doing a fantasy book report; the target audience of the Piggle-Wiggle series is early elementary age children, however, there is definite appeal to adults/parents too; these would be excellent for parents & kids to read together, or for teachers to use to launch creative thinking/writing projects in class