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Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907–1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children’s books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald’s vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters.
MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters on Vashon Island).
Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald’s archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, the first biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona.
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361 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
February 20, 2020
From the late 1940's to the late 1950's, Seattle native Betty Bard MacDonald gave the world four wry and wonderful reminiscences: THE EGG AND I, THE PLAGUE AND I , ANYBODY CAN DO ANYTHING, and ONIONS IN THE STEW, as well as the MRS. PIGGLE-WIGGLE books for children. The outlines of the author's life story were well known; now, thanks to original research by author Paula Becker, LOOKING FOR BETTY MacDONALD fills in the gaps nicely. Learn about Betty's family, which weathered bereavement and economic depression, supported the arts, yet had no sympathy for "saddo" self-pity on the part of outsiders.
Betty MacDonald was an American original. It would be a shame to forget about her.
Betty MacDonald was an American original. It would be a shame to forget about her.
May 28, 2018
Each time I've driven through Chimacum, I've noticed the sign for "The Egg and I Rd." I thought, "Hmm, that's a strange name." Little did I know that that road (renamed after the book) was the location of a chicken farm immortalized in the wildly popular book "The Egg and I" that propelled the author, Betty MacDonald, and the state of Washington, into fame.
I'd also heard of "Ma and Pa Kettle", but never knew that those characters were based on real-life people living less than 40 minutes from my home. MacDonald's characterization of Washingtonians (at least residents of the peninsula) as country bumpkins, made readers laugh, but didn't necessarily sit well with everyone. The real-life Kettles later sued Betty and her publishers.
Betty had married young and her new husband took her from Seattle to Chimacum where she grew to hate everything about the farm and the remote town. When she wrote about it years later, by this time divorced from the abusive first husband, she greatly edited her life and shared her experiences with self-deprecating humor that struck a chord with the post-war population. "The Egg and I" was made into a Hollywood movie starring Claudette Colbert; and Betty, whose face was on the cover of the book, became a star in her own right. She went on to write several more autobiographical books and the "Mrs. Piggy Wiggle" children's series.
I'm eager to read "The Egg and I".
I'd also heard of "Ma and Pa Kettle", but never knew that those characters were based on real-life people living less than 40 minutes from my home. MacDonald's characterization of Washingtonians (at least residents of the peninsula) as country bumpkins, made readers laugh, but didn't necessarily sit well with everyone. The real-life Kettles later sued Betty and her publishers.
Betty had married young and her new husband took her from Seattle to Chimacum where she grew to hate everything about the farm and the remote town. When she wrote about it years later, by this time divorced from the abusive first husband, she greatly edited her life and shared her experiences with self-deprecating humor that struck a chord with the post-war population. "The Egg and I" was made into a Hollywood movie starring Claudette Colbert; and Betty, whose face was on the cover of the book, became a star in her own right. She went on to write several more autobiographical books and the "Mrs. Piggy Wiggle" children's series.
I'm eager to read "The Egg and I".
February 9, 2019
This is a loving and thorough biography that gives insight and context into the writer behind Ma and Pa Kettle, the country bumpkins in nine movies made in the 40s and 50s. There's much more to Betty than those characters. Becker narrates the audiobook herself.
I came across The Plague and I in Grandma Kunze's book closet when I was 9 or 10. No book jacket, no way to know what it was about, but the title was intriguing. Grandma Kunze - actually my dad's second wife's first husband's mother - didn't tell me anything about it either, but she said she thought I'd like it and I should take it home for keeps and read it. I still have it, and I read it probably four or five times in the next few years. It sounds dreadful: a memoir of the time the author spent at a tuberculosis sanitarium in the 1930s, when treatment was mainly lying down in a cold bed and not talking. But it's actually darkly funny and peopled with all kinds of wonderful characters. I'd already read some of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories, which are written for kids, but didn't figure out till much later that it was the same Betty MacDonald who wrote both. Years later, I read her first book, The Egg and I, which was on the NYT best seller list for years in the 1940s.
Becker's biography is fascinating. For someone like me, who already knows the bits of Betty's life she showed in her memoirs, the biography fills out the details. Like - why would a girl from a sociable, intellectual, lively Seattle family tie herself to a grumpy older man on a chicken farm in the middle of nowhere? But even if you've never encountered Betty MacDonald before, the picture of life in the times she lived in, particularly for a successful female writer, is enlightening. For instance, in the 1950s her style was too bitter to be palatable; I was born in the 1950s and it's always surprising to me to realize how that Puritanic and patriarchal father-knows-best tra-la-la decade differed from what came before. Writers like Jean Kerr, Peg Bracken, and Erma Bombeck followed in MacDonald's footsteps, writing humorously about their lives, but seemed to fit the rosier outlook readers (or publishers, at any rate) were looking for in the 50s and 60s.
Becker started with research in publicly available sources, but she eventually got up the courage to contact Betty's family, who had saved boxes full of letters and generously shared their own memories to help fill in the gaps.
I came across The Plague and I in Grandma Kunze's book closet when I was 9 or 10. No book jacket, no way to know what it was about, but the title was intriguing. Grandma Kunze - actually my dad's second wife's first husband's mother - didn't tell me anything about it either, but she said she thought I'd like it and I should take it home for keeps and read it. I still have it, and I read it probably four or five times in the next few years. It sounds dreadful: a memoir of the time the author spent at a tuberculosis sanitarium in the 1930s, when treatment was mainly lying down in a cold bed and not talking. But it's actually darkly funny and peopled with all kinds of wonderful characters. I'd already read some of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories, which are written for kids, but didn't figure out till much later that it was the same Betty MacDonald who wrote both. Years later, I read her first book, The Egg and I, which was on the NYT best seller list for years in the 1940s.
Becker's biography is fascinating. For someone like me, who already knows the bits of Betty's life she showed in her memoirs, the biography fills out the details. Like - why would a girl from a sociable, intellectual, lively Seattle family tie herself to a grumpy older man on a chicken farm in the middle of nowhere? But even if you've never encountered Betty MacDonald before, the picture of life in the times she lived in, particularly for a successful female writer, is enlightening. For instance, in the 1950s her style was too bitter to be palatable; I was born in the 1950s and it's always surprising to me to realize how that Puritanic and patriarchal father-knows-best tra-la-la decade differed from what came before. Writers like Jean Kerr, Peg Bracken, and Erma Bombeck followed in MacDonald's footsteps, writing humorously about their lives, but seemed to fit the rosier outlook readers (or publishers, at any rate) were looking for in the 50s and 60s.
Becker started with research in publicly available sources, but she eventually got up the courage to contact Betty's family, who had saved boxes full of letters and generously shared their own memories to help fill in the gaps.
November 5, 2016
I read about this book in "Prufrock", a daily email curating various articles from the internet. I've been a fan of Betty MacDonald since I realized that her Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was the source of my mother's own self-referential comments about "Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker." So I enjoyed reading this book about Betty MacDonald's life and the books she wrote along the way.
Betty MacDonald did not have an easy life, but she cheerfully faced the difficulties and honestly identified the obstacles. The forerunner of "Funny Women" like Joan Kerr and Erma Bombeck, MacDonald is an author not to be missed.
Author Paula Becker talks about how she lived in Seattle and was captivated by its connection with MacDonald, and how that fascination led her to write this book. She muses about what makes "some moments in history, some people's stories, resonate for us more than others." I was struck by the awareness that God values us all, and we are blessed to realize, even spottily, the worth of each individual life.
Betty MacDonald did not have an easy life, but she cheerfully faced the difficulties and honestly identified the obstacles. The forerunner of "Funny Women" like Joan Kerr and Erma Bombeck, MacDonald is an author not to be missed.
Author Paula Becker talks about how she lived in Seattle and was captivated by its connection with MacDonald, and how that fascination led her to write this book. She muses about what makes "some moments in history, some people's stories, resonate for us more than others." I was struck by the awareness that God values us all, and we are blessed to realize, even spottily, the worth of each individual life.
May 28, 2020
.
Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
By biographer Paula Becker,
first published 2016, about 300 pages.
OVERVIEW:
"Betty Bard MacDonald (1907–1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II [1945]. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald's vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters.
MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional memoirs: The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters [Anne & Joan] on Vashon Island).
Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald's archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, a biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona."
•
The biography primarily covers the life and times of Betty Macdonald, which includes many stories about her large influential family. Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard went by the name Betty. Her older sister was Mary, her younger siblings were Cleve the only boy, Dede and Alison. Betty's father was Darsie Bard, a mining engineer who died before she was a teenager and her mother was Elsie who went by the name Sydney. Gammy was her eccentric and much love paternal-grandmother.
Betty was charmed by and married Robert "Bob" Heskett, a much older friend of her brother. He quit the insurance business and became a chicken farmer, fathered Betty's two kids, Anne & Joan and turned into a drunken abuser. Many years later Betty married the winsome Donald "Don" Macdonald who worked for Boeing inspecting aircraft headed for the war effort (World War II).
The author tells much of the story by giving details of the various houses occupied or owned by the Bard family and Betty in particularly, focusing on Sydney's (Mother's) shabby, eight-room house in the Roosevelt District of Seattle (the U District), referring to it as the "Anybody house." This is where Betty went after she left the chicken ranch and events recorded in her book Anybody Can Do Anything took place while she lived at this house. Most of her childhood homes are included in the telling (Butte, Montana Etc), the Seattle homes, the Bard farm on the Olympic Peninsula when Betty and Bob were working The Egg and I chicken ranch, her beach house on Vashon Island and ending with Betty and Don's ranch in Corral de Tierra / Carmel, California.
Author Paula Becker (born in 1963) also provides much of her own story as she recounts her interest and years-long research into the Bard family: enjoying Betty's books as a kid and later moving to Seattle where she ended up living in the same neighborhood as the famous Bard home.
Some details from the biography include:
Dad and Mom's courtship and marriage (1902), Darsie a Harvard student working to cover tuition and Sydney from a snobbish Eastern upbringing; hardship following dad's untimely death and Sydney's inability to handle finances; her Chimacum dairy farm and large Laurelhurst home were both auctioned to pay off the debt.
Betty's chicken-farming husband Bob turned out to be an abusive moonshiner who even attempted arson and murder--lighting the house on fire, with Betty and her two daughters inside. Since these facts were unsuitable for a pleasant, self-deprecating story of her married life, Betty sanitized her memoir in The Egg and I, by imbuing Bob with some of the finer qualities of her second husband, Don McDonald.
In the Great Depression "the Dirty Thirties" Mary Bard was the primary breadwinner for the family, always having a job. Mother, Betty, her two kids and three sisters all shared the shabby U District house, in addition to numerous guests and friends. When Mary married a doctor (1934) and moved away, Betty and the others kept the family going.
Highly contagious tuberculosis got Betty sent to a sanatorium for about 9 months (1938?), plus periodic outpatient treatments. Her kids stayed with Sydney during this time. [She remained a devout smoker even after this, mentioning it in her memoirs and permitted her two teenage girls to smoke. She died at age 50 in 1958. It wasn't until the mid-1960s that smoking was journal-reported as such a health hazard].
During WWII, Betty (with her 2 adolescent daughters ) married Don McDonald (1942) and soon the family of four moved to a beach house on Vashon Island, in Washington State, where she wrote her first best seller The Egg and I (1945)--a million copies in less than a year.
Ends with the author searching through old boxes of correspondence, letters from Betty's publisher, from friends and fans, etc. These were at the Vashon Island home of Heidi, Joan's daughter, Betty's granddaughter. Other letters and materials were found with Heidi's brother and reflections from Anne, Betty's oldest daughter.
A thoroughly researched biography, mostly engaging, especially if you've already read some of Betty's memoirs. It doesn't retell the stories Betty has already detailed, but does mention some of them. Other facts are expanded upon and previously unknown info is brought to light. In all of it the author reflects on her own story as she was getting to know the Bard family history.
.
"BETTY MACDONALD was born Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard in Boulder, Colorado, on 26 March 1908. She married Robert Heskett in 1927 and settled on a forty-acre chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington. Her experiences on the farm became the subject of her first book, The Egg and I (1945), which sold over a million copies in the year following publication, was made into a film...and spawned the successful series of 'Ma and Pa Kettle' films. In addition to Onions in the Stew, which was originally published in 1954, her other books include The Plague and I (1948) and Anybody Can Do Anything (1950). She died in Seattle on 7 February 1958. " - from Onions...
..
.
.
Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
By biographer Paula Becker,
first published 2016, about 300 pages.
OVERVIEW:
"Betty Bard MacDonald (1907–1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II [1945]. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald's vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters.
MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional memoirs: The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters [Anne & Joan] on Vashon Island).
Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald's archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, a biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona."
•
The biography primarily covers the life and times of Betty Macdonald, which includes many stories about her large influential family. Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard went by the name Betty. Her older sister was Mary, her younger siblings were Cleve the only boy, Dede and Alison. Betty's father was Darsie Bard, a mining engineer who died before she was a teenager and her mother was Elsie who went by the name Sydney. Gammy was her eccentric and much love paternal-grandmother.
Betty was charmed by and married Robert "Bob" Heskett, a much older friend of her brother. He quit the insurance business and became a chicken farmer, fathered Betty's two kids, Anne & Joan and turned into a drunken abuser. Many years later Betty married the winsome Donald "Don" Macdonald who worked for Boeing inspecting aircraft headed for the war effort (World War II).
The author tells much of the story by giving details of the various houses occupied or owned by the Bard family and Betty in particularly, focusing on Sydney's (Mother's) shabby, eight-room house in the Roosevelt District of Seattle (the U District), referring to it as the "Anybody house." This is where Betty went after she left the chicken ranch and events recorded in her book Anybody Can Do Anything took place while she lived at this house. Most of her childhood homes are included in the telling (Butte, Montana Etc), the Seattle homes, the Bard farm on the Olympic Peninsula when Betty and Bob were working The Egg and I chicken ranch, her beach house on Vashon Island and ending with Betty and Don's ranch in Corral de Tierra / Carmel, California.
Author Paula Becker (born in 1963) also provides much of her own story as she recounts her interest and years-long research into the Bard family: enjoying Betty's books as a kid and later moving to Seattle where she ended up living in the same neighborhood as the famous Bard home.
Some details from the biography include:
Dad and Mom's courtship and marriage (1902), Darsie a Harvard student working to cover tuition and Sydney from a snobbish Eastern upbringing; hardship following dad's untimely death and Sydney's inability to handle finances; her Chimacum dairy farm and large Laurelhurst home were both auctioned to pay off the debt.
Betty's chicken-farming husband Bob turned out to be an abusive moonshiner who even attempted arson and murder--lighting the house on fire, with Betty and her two daughters inside. Since these facts were unsuitable for a pleasant, self-deprecating story of her married life, Betty sanitized her memoir in The Egg and I, by imbuing Bob with some of the finer qualities of her second husband, Don McDonald.
In the Great Depression "the Dirty Thirties" Mary Bard was the primary breadwinner for the family, always having a job. Mother, Betty, her two kids and three sisters all shared the shabby U District house, in addition to numerous guests and friends. When Mary married a doctor (1934) and moved away, Betty and the others kept the family going.
Highly contagious tuberculosis got Betty sent to a sanatorium for about 9 months (1938?), plus periodic outpatient treatments. Her kids stayed with Sydney during this time. [She remained a devout smoker even after this, mentioning it in her memoirs and permitted her two teenage girls to smoke. She died at age 50 in 1958. It wasn't until the mid-1960s that smoking was journal-reported as such a health hazard].
During WWII, Betty (with her 2 adolescent daughters ) married Don McDonald (1942) and soon the family of four moved to a beach house on Vashon Island, in Washington State, where she wrote her first best seller The Egg and I (1945)--a million copies in less than a year.
Ends with the author searching through old boxes of correspondence, letters from Betty's publisher, from friends and fans, etc. These were at the Vashon Island home of Heidi, Joan's daughter, Betty's granddaughter. Other letters and materials were found with Heidi's brother and reflections from Anne, Betty's oldest daughter.
A thoroughly researched biography, mostly engaging, especially if you've already read some of Betty's memoirs. It doesn't retell the stories Betty has already detailed, but does mention some of them. Other facts are expanded upon and previously unknown info is brought to light. In all of it the author reflects on her own story as she was getting to know the Bard family history.
.
"BETTY MACDONALD was born Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard in Boulder, Colorado, on 26 March 1908. She married Robert Heskett in 1927 and settled on a forty-acre chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington. Her experiences on the farm became the subject of her first book, The Egg and I (1945), which sold over a million copies in the year following publication, was made into a film...and spawned the successful series of 'Ma and Pa Kettle' films. In addition to Onions in the Stew, which was originally published in 1954, her other books include The Plague and I (1948) and Anybody Can Do Anything (1950). She died in Seattle on 7 February 1958. " - from Onions...
..
.
.
July 18, 2017
We need to recover this great American author- is love to see The Egg and I added to high school reading lists and given the respect it's owed for its importance in American cultural and literary history.
March 1, 2018
An excellent bio of one of the funniest writers of the 20th century, and proof positive that humor is hard. I still read The Egg and I every summer, and it never loses its sharp wit.
January 3, 2017
I live in the PNW and found this book to be very interesting not only for the biography part of Betty, which was very good, but also finding out about this area when she was here. It was a very good read.
October 11, 2018
Have not read any of MacDonald's books, only vaguely heard of Egg and I, met Paula Becker at a writers' conference and got a copy of this book. Lifelong Seattle resident (I was born the year Betty died, lived in the same neighborhoods she did) so I was intrigued by the story. Becker did exhaustive research, extreme detail in putting the pieces together of an extraordinary life. And it's not a puff piece: she's blunt about Betty's downsides and leaves the reader just familiar enough with her subject but still wondering if Betty would have been likable in person.
Written from a cultural period many decades removed, seems like eons in changing gender roles and race relations. Becker was able to keep this all in perspective, gently reminding us those were different times -- and that Betty's lifestyle might be de rigeur today but was pretty "out there" in the 40s and 50s.
Thanks Paula, well done.
Written from a cultural period many decades removed, seems like eons in changing gender roles and race relations. Becker was able to keep this all in perspective, gently reminding us those were different times -- and that Betty's lifestyle might be de rigeur today but was pretty "out there" in the 40s and 50s.
Thanks Paula, well done.
April 11, 2018
Millions of people have read "The Egg and I" by Betty MacDonald since it was published in 1945 and millions more have read Betty's subsequent books "The Plague and I", "Anybody Can Do Anything" and "Onions in the Stew." She single handedly managed to put Chimacum, WA and Vashon Island, WA on the map with her tales of her own struggles and victories and those of her family. These stories were laced with wittiness, honesty, laugh out loud humor and remarkable courage in the face of disasters. Paula Becker enjoyed the books so much and became so interested in Betty that she determined to learn more about this unique woman. Paula was able to access Betty's enormous collection of letters and papers and tell the back story of a woman who did not share everything in her memoirs. I have loved the books for years and found great delight in learning so many new details about Betty.
January 16, 2018
This is a very interesting and well researched book, and what a life! I know Betty McDonald through library and Scholastic paperback copies of the Mrs. Pigglewiggle books, which I adored in my grade school years. I thought it would be delightful to live in an upside down house and have all the children in the neighborhood breeze in and out happily. It looks like the perfect life - to be unique and popular at the same time!
I enjoyed learning more about Betty's varied and challenging life and one cannot help but admire the pluck of those Bard women.
I enjoyed learning more about Betty's varied and challenging life and one cannot help but admire the pluck of those Bard women.
November 3, 2016
A gem of a book! Especially intriguing for those who've read the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series and The Egg and I, but also of interest for those who are inspired by creative, plucky people, not to mention quirky families.
February 18, 2017
Every two weeks my mother brought me three library books, so her tastes determined what I read. She loved The Egg and I, so I read it more than once. Looking for Betty MacDonald is an enjoyable, in-depth biography, helping explain Betty's out-sized influence over a generation of American women.
December 22, 2016
This was a great book. An encouragement to writers, siblings and readers. I identified with Betty's sister Mary as a big sister and Betty trying to write despite troubles. I plan to re-read her books in the new year.
October 30, 2020
I love Betty MacDonald's books so I found this biography of the author fascinating. It is always interesting to know what is and what isn't autobiographical in novels.
Warning, no point reading this unless you are a Betty MacDonald's fun.
Warning, no point reading this unless you are a Betty MacDonald's fun.
August 21, 2021
As a kid I read and loved the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, but it was years until I discovered that the same Betty MacDonald had written books for adults. The same vulnerability and familiarity with similar everyday frustrations made her books bestsellers. This book tries to discover what makes Betty M so relatable as a writer. Betty M lived in my state of Washington for many years. This book is a U of W Press publication.
Her mother Sydney was married to a geologist and took their family to mining camps and communities in the west. Betty wrote that her mother "emanates an aura of peace that is actually visible. Mother says this is merely long practice in the face of disaster. I think it is an inner serenity that follows in the wake of selflessness." This is a characteristic also attributed to Mrs. PW.
Also in Betty's family, you were expected to write funny letters. "You have to give the details that make a situation funny or interesting. It was fine to be mean as long as you were funny." Exaggeration was encouraged and expected. "In this family you've got to talk and write fairly sharply or admit you're a dope."
"Betty's books describe a universe peopled with outrageous characters. I saw from tunneling through her letters that this was not an invention. She saw the world as outrageous, and so she wrote it that way." The author's extensive examination of personal letters was credited for the discovery of this belief.
Betty M encouraged her Japanese American roommate from the TB sanatorium (The Plague and I) to write the experiences of her family's internment. It became Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone, and was endorsed by Berry. Sone later earned a master's in clinical psychology, unusual at the time.
BM was one of the first "funny women" who excelled in exaggeration and domestic humor. Others were Jean Kerr, Erma Bombeck, Peg Bracken, Barbara Holland, and Judith Viorst. "Betty's brand of humor was unique, however, in hitting its mark without resorting to drollery or whining. Her work came from a deeper well." Note- Peg Bracken is my personal favorite.
Note: in Betty's family they used the term "toecover" to refer to a useless handmade item!
Her mother Sydney was married to a geologist and took their family to mining camps and communities in the west. Betty wrote that her mother "emanates an aura of peace that is actually visible. Mother says this is merely long practice in the face of disaster. I think it is an inner serenity that follows in the wake of selflessness." This is a characteristic also attributed to Mrs. PW.
Also in Betty's family, you were expected to write funny letters. "You have to give the details that make a situation funny or interesting. It was fine to be mean as long as you were funny." Exaggeration was encouraged and expected. "In this family you've got to talk and write fairly sharply or admit you're a dope."
"Betty's books describe a universe peopled with outrageous characters. I saw from tunneling through her letters that this was not an invention. She saw the world as outrageous, and so she wrote it that way." The author's extensive examination of personal letters was credited for the discovery of this belief.
Betty M encouraged her Japanese American roommate from the TB sanatorium (The Plague and I) to write the experiences of her family's internment. It became Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone, and was endorsed by Berry. Sone later earned a master's in clinical psychology, unusual at the time.
BM was one of the first "funny women" who excelled in exaggeration and domestic humor. Others were Jean Kerr, Erma Bombeck, Peg Bracken, Barbara Holland, and Judith Viorst. "Betty's brand of humor was unique, however, in hitting its mark without resorting to drollery or whining. Her work came from a deeper well." Note- Peg Bracken is my personal favorite.
Note: in Betty's family they used the term "toecover" to refer to a useless handmade item!
April 13, 2021
This book reveals the real Betty MacDonald behind The Egg & I. Her family constantly on the move during her childhood due to her father's job and when they did settle down in Seattle the family's stability didn't last long as her father died at a very young age. Her mother wasn't financially astute and refused to economize so there were foreclosures on property they owned. Anne and her sister Mary would wind up being the bread winners for the family. You learn the real reasons why Betty left the Egg and her first husband and how Lippincott whitewashed the whole episode so that most people didn't even realize that Don MacDonald was her second husband and wasn't around during The Egg days. My grandfather's first cousin, Alfred Larson, had bought The Egg shortly before the book came out and in the end were overwhelmed by the amount of people who were making the pilgrimage to see The Egg & I. I hadn't realized that their daughter had married the grandson of Albert & Susannah Bishop. Though Betty loved Donald, he was described as Mr. Betty MacDonald and you got the feeling he was along for the ride. Betty could get irritated with him and her family as she needed time to write which they often didn't take into consideration. I found this book extremely interesting, informative, and enjoyable. It's a keeper
October 28, 2017
Kind of like a watered-down PhD thesis about the author with everything you really weren't sure you wanted to know, mixed in along with all the good stuff. I am a huge fan of "The Egg and I" and that part of the author's history was interesting, and the reason I borrowed this book.
It's easy to read between the lines of "The Egg and I" and see that her husband is probably abusive, but definitely an unlikely match for such a lively positive woman. So wanting to learn a little background, I read this background with interest and was more than satisfied with all the information this book brings to light. There isn't much more I really was interested in, as who is interested to this detail about anyone, really? It goes too deep, too personal, too much into detail that I don't even want to know about my own family members that I had to stop.
Sometimes the myth is better to have in your head than the reality. Now when I re-read "The Egg and I" I'll consider it a work of mostly fiction. And enjoy it more in this case.
It's easy to read between the lines of "The Egg and I" and see that her husband is probably abusive, but definitely an unlikely match for such a lively positive woman. So wanting to learn a little background, I read this background with interest and was more than satisfied with all the information this book brings to light. There isn't much more I really was interested in, as who is interested to this detail about anyone, really? It goes too deep, too personal, too much into detail that I don't even want to know about my own family members that I had to stop.
Sometimes the myth is better to have in your head than the reality. Now when I re-read "The Egg and I" I'll consider it a work of mostly fiction. And enjoy it more in this case.
April 4, 2021
I’ve read three of MacDonald’s four books so I was looking forward to this biography. Unfortunately it’s not as good as I would have liked. The first half is too much on the Bard family (Betty’s family) and much of the material is what one would have gleaned from her books. It picks up with the description of the publicity tour for The Egg and I and the subsequent lawsuit by the family who was the basis for the Kettle family. Although MacDonald denied it, the resemblance is striking. MacDonald won although it seems to have been a fluke. Becker is fascinated by the houses that the Bard family lived in and that’s what sparked her interest, as well as the connection that she felt with MacDonald’s work. Although Becker had access to a lot of MacDonald’s correspondence, not enough of it was quoted. MacDonald’s lacerating wit, both her creative nonfiction (probably a more accurate description than autobiography) and her correspondence, was legendary, but not enough of it comes through. A very mixed bag.
January 7, 2025
I found this on the shelf in the PNW section of the local bookstore and I love PNW memoirs and biographies so I picked it up. After reading the prologue I realized that I needed to read Betty MacDonald's books to really enjoy this, as most of this biography is peeking behind the curtain of Betty's own memoirs. This ended up being a great rabbit hole to fall into. I started with the Egg and I, which as noted by the author is "bracing and hilarious, but kind of mean." The kind of mean part put me off, but each book of Betty's becomes more gentle as her characters tend more toward her family. Onions in the Stew ended up being my favorite. So after reading all 4 of Betty's books, 1 of her sister Mary's and watching the film adaption of Egg and I, I was finally ready to read this. I thought Paula did a great job filling in the gaps and explaining the sorrow behind the Egg and I, as well as her life after publishing Onions in the Stew. Overall a great biography, a fascinating woman, and I will continue to look for Betty around the PNW.
January 5, 2019
Growing up, I loved the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. As an adult, I read The Egg and I and Onions in the Stew, so I was interested to read more about this author. That being said, I'm not sure this is a book for non-fans of Betty MacDonald's work. She led an interesting, if largely uneventful life, and died at the age of 50 from cancer, so her body of work is not large. The author is a resident of Seattle, where MacDonald lived for most of her adult life, so Becker just seemed to feel an affinity for MacDonald.
The most interesting part of the book is the description of the huge publishing phenomenon that was The Egg and I. It was published just after the end of World War II, when folks were more than ready for a lighthearted story to read, and it was the first book to sell more than a million copies in less than a year. It was the only one of her books made into a movie, which introduced the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle.
The most interesting part of the book is the description of the huge publishing phenomenon that was The Egg and I. It was published just after the end of World War II, when folks were more than ready for a lighthearted story to read, and it was the first book to sell more than a million copies in less than a year. It was the only one of her books made into a movie, which introduced the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle.
February 13, 2017
An excellent biography. I particularly liked how Paula Becker framed Betty MacDonald's story with the story of her own fascination with the author and especially her homes. I could relate to the desire to do this kind of tangible research (visiting all the places Betty MacDonald lived) as well as research in the archives, including Becker's discovery of troves of letters and journals. Most of the book is taken up by a more typical biography, and it was told in such a straightforward, reflective and lively way that I was totally engaged as a reader throughout. Even though I was not a big fan of Betty MacDonald's before, having only read The Egg and I many years ago, my curiosity was piqued and I am likely to read MacDonald's other books as well.
May 16, 2017
I don't often write reviews, but I don't often read biographies that captivate me as much as this. Maybe because I'm intimately familiar with Seattle or perhaps something in Betty just connected with me, but I couldn't put this book down (ask my husband). This was well researched but heart-ful as well. I like how the author doesn't just tell Betty's story, but a bit of her own, too. This book caused me to stay up late one night researching Seattle in the 1930s and scouring google maps for all the places mentioned in the book. Worth the read, even if you are not intimately familiar with MacDonald's work. This. Ok was great for me as an aspiring writer as well- her struggle to stay "authoring" is so real.
August 6, 2018
Greatly enjoyed this biography of a local author whose books have been read all over the world. This book is well-researched, well-written, and very enjoyable. The author tells the story of a woman whose sense of humor and sharp-witted writing helped not only herself, but also her family, survive hardship, financial woes, and many, many moves from house to house. I enjoyed the details of how Betty made ends meet, wrote her books, and I loved reading about her funny and close-knit family, too. Now I wish I had seen her house on 15th Avenue NE, before it was torn down!
And yes, I read this in just two days!
And yes, I read this in just two days!
January 21, 2020
I really enjoyed this book! I read the Mrs Piggle Wiggle stories as a child, and later read them to my kids. I’ve read a few now to grandkids. I came upon Onions in the Stew on a trip and then had quite a hard time finding a copy to finish reading. Since we have been to Vashon I felt a kinship and really liked the book. I didn’t read The Egg and I until maybe 10 years ago.
I would recommend anyone read The Egg and I before reading this book, as it is referenced so much throughout the book.
I commend the author for “ finding Betty” and sharing her with us. What a woman she was!
I would recommend anyone read The Egg and I before reading this book, as it is referenced so much throughout the book.
I commend the author for “ finding Betty” and sharing her with us. What a woman she was!
March 14, 2022
3.5? Broad biography of Betty MacDonald. I liked a lot of the details she learned and shared about Betty's parents and families. There was a brief mention of Madge, the "adopted sister" who only appeared in The Plague and I, but no information about her at all. I would have liked a deep dive more than the broad look at Betty we got. The excerpts from her letters were great, and I would have enjoyed more of those, and more photos. This was created with support from Betty's daughter and remaining relatives, but I feel like the other bio went a little more deeply into her life.
August 3, 2022
This book is a biography of Betty MacDonald. It tells about her family growing up and then after she marries. How she actually lived the book that she wrote titled " The Egg and I" and " Plague." Although she was a best selling author in the mid 40's she always had money problems. Her writing was what kept the family afloat. You learn that her parents were not good handling money and neither was Betty's husband. I listened to this book and enjoyed listening to it but I didn't think it was a "must read" sort of book.
April 10, 2019
A well researched biography of Betty MacDonald. The author is a fan of Betty's, but doesn't whitewash the less-than-charming aspects of Betty's life and experiences. I've read all four of MacDonald's autobiographies; this biography fills in the gaps and points out where (and why) some of those books were fictionalized. When I started this book I thought it was going to be dry, but it was well written and fascinating.
January 8, 2023
This book is great, a true labor of love, and a gift to readers. I learned so much about Betty MacDonald. I've read many of her books, but didn't realize she was such a famous author and bestseller in her day. That's amazing, because her voice is so modern. I can see how she was beloved in the 40s, but then a bit too much for the conservative 50s. Her farm on vashon island is still for sale and now I want it.
August 25, 2017
Who knew that the author of The Egg and I was so beloved in her time, and put the Pacific Northwest on the map? I enjoyed reading about her life in locations that are familiar to me and a time when I was growing up in and around the same places she lived. Now I'm trying to get my hands on The Egg and I!
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