Best Selling Books by Betty MacDonald

It was Christmas Eve. Big snowflakes fluttered slowly through the air like white feathers
and made all of Heavenly Valley smooth and white and quiet and beautiful.

So begins the story of two orphaned sisters at Mrs. Monday's Boarding School. But nothing is heavenly for Nancy and Pamela (aka Plum): their parents died in a tragic accident years ago, they're constantly punished by the cruel Mrs. Monday, and they're all alone for the holidays.

Luckily, Nancy and Plum have each other, and though their prospects may be bleak, they're determined to change their lot for the better. If their plan works, the spirited sisters will never spend Christmas at the cold, dark boarding school again. But what will they find on the other side of Mrs. Monday's gate?

Adventure, warmth, unforgettable characters, and unexpected kindness abound in this classic story by Betty MacDonald, which was originally published in 1952. With illustrations by the acclaimed Mary GrandPré and an introduction by Jeanne Birdsall, National Book Award–winning author of The Penderwicks, this edition introduces the spunky, beloved heroines to a new generation of fans.


From the Hardcover edition.

As the children plan a birthday party for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, the loveable problem solver, with her trunk full of magic and her animal friends in tow, offers cures for such common conditions as watching too much television and the fear of trying new things.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle suggests a cure for Hubert's bad habit of not picking up his toys.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle suggests the radish cure for Patsy's bad habit of not taking a bath.

A collection of three Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories.

A woman with a magic way of curing children's bad habits tries her hand with a bully, a whisperer, and a slowpoke and formulates cures for a show-off and a crybaby.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is back with special cures for the not truthful, the pet forgetter, the fraidy-cat, the destructive child, and the child who continually says, "I can't find it.".

Relates the joys and frustrations of life on a poultry farm in the mountains of Washington.

Seven families are helped out by Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's magic cures when they are faced with thought-you-saiders, tattletales, bad table manners, interrupters, heedless breakers, never-want-to-go-to-schoolers, and waddle-I-doers.

Long before Betty MacDonald became known as the author of The Egg And I, she was a hard-working single mother in Seattle, Washington. After struggling to hold down a series of jobs during the first few years of the Depression, she managed to get hired on as a Federal government clerk, which brought some measure of security to her family. This was short-lived; diagnosed with TB, MacDonald was admitted into a state of the art (at that time) sanatarium. This book records her nine months living in the shadow of TB and the people she met during her struggle against not just the disease, but despair, unkindness, and harsh treatment. That it is an extremely funny book is a measure of MacDonald's talent.