All the Ms: MacDonalds (the beginning)

Betty MacDonald is the author of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. I had heard of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle but didn't know what the books were about.

They are basically Mary Poppins/Nanny McPhee/Amelia Bedalia books along with that show about nannies, only Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle doesn't live in. She cures a variety of bad behaviors.

I never read these books as a kid. I did read books where children learned to behave better--just, I never read blatantly "fix the bad kids" books. Does anyone? Do kids? Seems kind of strange--but based on what Literature Devil has to say about the aggressive (inaccurate) Victorianism of current superheroes editors, I guess there are people out there who like lecture-as-literature.

On the other hand, the Trolls, Go Home! book and sequels by Alan MacDonald, also about people behaving better (get along with your troll neighbors!), is likely the kind of book I might have read as a kid. Nobody is being fixed. They are just learning to get to know each other. There is a difference. Mr. Troll sums up friendship as “I’d give him a great big huggle. Lift him off the ground. Then he’d roar and I’d roar back and he’d roar again, and we’d argue about who roars the loudest. Then we’d go off and look for some goatses to chase.” The characters are themselves, not socially acceptable characters.

Andrew David MacDonald: When We Were Vikings is a book I might come back to. It is about Zelda, who was born with some brain damage due to Fetal Alcoholism. She narrates the book, much like the narrator of Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, only Zelda is more engaging and independent.

Ann-Marie MacDonald: Adult Onset is a kind of stream-of-consciousness tome about parenthood--and other stuff--and proves that no matter the politics or relationship set-up, the same concerns and worries and questions still arise. I found the opening pages engaging (it is one of those books that doesn't have chapters). It reminded me of Douglas Coupland's Microserfs which I loved when I was younger and read multiple times...and don't read anymore.