Books with author Betty MacDonald

You know how sometimes friendship blossoms in the Þrst few moments of meeting? “Something clicked,” we say. Well, that’s what discovering Betty MacDonald was like for me: I happened to read a couple of pages of one of her books and — click — knew right away that here was a vivacious writer whose friendly, funny, and Þery company I was really going to enjoy. Although MacDonald’s Þrst and most popular book, The Egg and I, has remained in print since its original publication, her three other volumes have been unavailable for decades. The Plague and I recounts MacDonald’s experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. Anybody Can Do Anything is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how “the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family” brightened their weathering of The Great Depression. In Onions in the Stew, MacDonald is in unbuttonedly frolicsome form as she describes how, with husband and daughters, she set to work making a life on a rough-and-tumble island in Puget Sound, a ferry-ride from Seattle.

"Nancy and Plum" is a children's book written by the world famous author Betty McDonald, who wrote four popular "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" children's books, and also the adult books, "The Egg & I", "Anybody Can Do Anything" and "Onion in the Stew". "Nancy and Plum" was first published in 1952. It is a story Betty told her daughters, Joan and Anne, each night at bedtime, making it up as she went along. It is a delightful old fashioned Christmas story about two sisters, Nancy, 10 and Plum, 8, whose parents died in an accident. Their surviving relative is Uncle John, a wealthy bachelor with little patience or time for children. He puts the girls in Mrs. Monday's Boarding School in Heavenly Valley, persuaded by Mrs. Monday's promises and unctuous manner. But Mrs. Monday is an ogre who pampers her niece, Maribelle, and persecutes the other girls in her custody. Of the two sisters, Plum is the spunky one, leading Nancy on forays for food and initiating their running away. Plum like that more famous orphan, ,Annie, is brave, innovative and energetic. There are lovely characters who are sympathetic and help the girls: Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, who find the girls on their farm and rescue them; Miss Waverly, the school teacher; Miss Appleby, the librarianl and Old Tom, the caretaker at the orphanage. For contrast their is Miss Gronk the Sunday school teacher, who shares the role of villianess with Mrs. Monday. "Nancy and Plum" and "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" were made into plays by the Seattle Children's Theater which were done exactly the way Betty would have wanted. They appealed to adults as well as children and are now being performed by other children's theaters throughout the United States.

You know how sometimes friendship blossoms in the Þrst few moments of meeting? “Something clicked,” we say. Well, that’s what discovering Betty MacDonald was like for me: I happened to read a couple of pages of one of her books and — click — knew right away that here was a vivacious writer whose friendly, funny, and Þery company I was really going to enjoy. Although MacDonald’s Þrst and most popular book, The Egg and I, has remained in print since its original publication, her three other volumes have been unavailable for decades. The Plague and I recounts MacDonald’s experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. Anybody Can Do Anything is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how “the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family” brightened their weathering of The Great Depression. In Onions in the Stew, MacDonald is in unbuttonedly frolicsome form as she describes how, with husband and daughters, she set to work making a life on a rough-and-tumble island in Puget Sound, a ferry-ride from Seattle.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is the title of a series of books by Betty MacDonald (1908-1958). The first book in this series is called Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1947), and sequels include, in publication order, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm , Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series stars a small lady who lives in an "upside-down" house in a lively neighborhood inhabited mainly by children who have bad habits. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a chest full of magical cures left to her by her deceased husband, Mr. Piggle-Wiggle, who was a pirate. In the first two books of the series, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1947) and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic (1949), Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle provided parents with cures for their children's bad habits. Cures range from the mundane, (the Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure involves allowing a small boy to continue leaving his toys scattered about his room until the room becomes so messy he's unable to escape from his room) to the fantastic (the Interrupting Cure is a special powder that is blown on the interrupter, with the effect that it causes the person to become temporarily mute every time he/she tries to interrupt someone). Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle are illustrated by Hilary Knight. The other books were illustrated by other artists. Hilary Knight (b. 1926) is an American writer-artist who is the illustrator of more than 50 books and the author of nine books. He is best known as the illustrator of Kay Thompson's Eloise (1955) and others in the Eloise series. The copyright for these three books and Mr. Knight's illustrations were renewed in 1985 and this book was published.

You know how sometimes friendship blossoms in the Þrst few moments of meeting? “Something clicked,” we say. Well, that's what discovering Betty MacDonald was like for me: I happened to read a couple of pages of one of her books and — click — knew right away that here was a vivacious writer whose friendly, funny, and Þery company I was really going to enjoy. Although MacDonald's Þrst and most popular book, The Egg and I, has remained in print since its original publication, her three other volumes have been unavailable for decades. The Plague and I recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. Anybody Can Do Anything is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how “the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family” brightened their weathering of The Great Depression. In Onions in the Stew, MacDonald is in unbuttonedly frolicsome form as she describes how, with husband and daughters, she set to work making a life on a rough-and-tumble island in Puget Sound, a ferry-ride from Seattle.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a trick up her sleeveMrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves everyone, and everyone loves her right back. The children love her because she is lots of fun. Their parents love her because she can cure children of absolutely any bad habit. The treatment are unusual, but they work! Who better than a pig, for instance, to teach a piggy little boy table manners? And what better way to cure the rainy-day "waddle-I-do's" than hunt for a pirate treasure in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's upside-down house?