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Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers. When Mary Anne is destined for the scrap heap, the duo must dig their way out of trouble in this timeless tale of friendship, old-fashioned hard work, and ingenuity. Includes bonus audio download performed by the Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick.
56 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 1938
About the author
Virginia Lee Burton
41 books200 followersVirginia Lee Burton was an American illustrator and children's book author. Burton produced seven self-illustrated children's books. She married Boston Museum school sculptor, George Demetrios, with whom she had two sons and lived in Folly Cove, Gloucester. She died at 59.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 745 reviews
May 10, 2016
One of the wonderful things about working in a library is that you never know when you're going to see some old friends. Yesterday I found them in the children's section. Every shelf had books that I had loved when I was a kid! It made me smile to see them again.
But I paused when I found "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel." This is a classic children's book that was originally published in 1939. I think I first read it during a visit to my grandparents' house, and it brought up some bittersweet memories.
It's the story of a construction worker named Mike, who names his steam shovel Mary Anne. The two work well together, digging canals, making tunnels in the mountains, cutting through hills to make highways. But soon no one wants a steam shovel anymore -- Mike and Mary Anne had been replaced by diesel and electric motors.
Mike is determined to find work, and he tells the city leaders he can dig the cellar for their new town hall in just one day. They dig fast and a crowd gathers to watch. They dig all day, and when they're done, they find themselves stuck in the hole they've made. A child standing nearby has an idea for how to save Mike and Mary Anne, and the book closes on a happy note.
The crayon drawings in this book are delightful, and it has an old-school charm that is hard to resist. Highly recommended.
But I paused when I found "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel." This is a classic children's book that was originally published in 1939. I think I first read it during a visit to my grandparents' house, and it brought up some bittersweet memories.
It's the story of a construction worker named Mike, who names his steam shovel Mary Anne. The two work well together, digging canals, making tunnels in the mountains, cutting through hills to make highways. But soon no one wants a steam shovel anymore -- Mike and Mary Anne had been replaced by diesel and electric motors.
Mike is determined to find work, and he tells the city leaders he can dig the cellar for their new town hall in just one day. They dig fast and a crowd gathers to watch. They dig all day, and when they're done, they find themselves stuck in the hole they've made. A child standing nearby has an idea for how to save Mike and Mary Anne, and the book closes on a happy note.
The crayon drawings in this book are delightful, and it has an old-school charm that is hard to resist. Highly recommended.
April 1, 2016
Mike Mulligan has been my most favorite book ever since I was in grade school. There was no other book that thrilled me like this one. I loved the illustrations, I can still see that last picture and it still warms my heart. Everyone should read this. My sister and I discussed this book and the fond memories of it on our birthday cruise.
I guess the cool nights reminded us of the Steam Shovel.
I guess the cool nights reminded us of the Steam Shovel.
October 24, 2012
Yes, its true -- I dreaded the nights (night after night after night) when one of my sons would insist we read this book! Why? Because it's long, and detailed -- good for the child, terrible for a weary parent. My boys memorized the story, and if I ever tried to skip a page, I was found out and the missing page was revisited.
This book is a great gift to give to any child who is enthralled with heavy machinery, but there's more to it than that. At the time the story is written (1939) Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne, his steam shovel, are becoming outdated. They used to be busy in the big city, making basements for big buildings. But as always happens, something better - faster, more efficient gas, electric and Diesel shovels - is replacing them.
Mike Mulligan knows they still have value. He's always told people that Mary Anne could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, though he's never been quite sure this is true.
To find work, he ventures into the country to the town of Popperville, where a new Town Hall is being built. Mike promises to build the cellar in just one day ("What!" said Henry B. Swap. "Dig a cellar in just one day! It would take a hundred men at least a week to dig the cellar for our new town hall." ) Henry and the townpeople are swayed when Mike promises that "If we can't do it, you won't have to pay."
The citizens of Bangerville and Bopperville, Kipperville and Kopperville plus all the people from Popperville come out to watch Mike and Mary Anne work hard under the hot sun. They finish the job as the sun sets, just in the nick of time.
One small boy has been watching them, and he asks a really good question - "How are they going to get out?" Mike was in such a hurry, he forgot to make a way to get Mary Anne out of the cellar.
Everyone tries to think of a solution, but it's that astute little boy who comes up with the best one. They decide to keep the Steam Shovel in the cellar, and build the town hall over them. Mike Mulligan can be the janitor, the steam shovel will keep the building warm in the winter, they won't have to buy a new furnace (Henry B. Swap really likes this frugal thought!) and everyone is happy.
The kids who read it especially like looking at all the tiny details in the pictures, but I think they especially like the small boy finding the solution that none of the adults can figure out.
In retrospect, I suppose it really wasn't that awful to have to read it again and again and again. There is the grandparent's revenge,too - I saved the book with my son's scribblings on it and just handed it over to him, to read again and again and again to his little boy!
Definitely worth buying the hardcover edition!
This book is a great gift to give to any child who is enthralled with heavy machinery, but there's more to it than that. At the time the story is written (1939) Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne, his steam shovel, are becoming outdated. They used to be busy in the big city, making basements for big buildings. But as always happens, something better - faster, more efficient gas, electric and Diesel shovels - is replacing them.
Mike Mulligan knows they still have value. He's always told people that Mary Anne could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, though he's never been quite sure this is true.
To find work, he ventures into the country to the town of Popperville, where a new Town Hall is being built. Mike promises to build the cellar in just one day ("What!" said Henry B. Swap. "Dig a cellar in just one day! It would take a hundred men at least a week to dig the cellar for our new town hall." ) Henry and the townpeople are swayed when Mike promises that "If we can't do it, you won't have to pay."
The citizens of Bangerville and Bopperville, Kipperville and Kopperville plus all the people from Popperville come out to watch Mike and Mary Anne work hard under the hot sun. They finish the job as the sun sets, just in the nick of time.
One small boy has been watching them, and he asks a really good question - "How are they going to get out?" Mike was in such a hurry, he forgot to make a way to get Mary Anne out of the cellar.
Everyone tries to think of a solution, but it's that astute little boy who comes up with the best one. They decide to keep the Steam Shovel in the cellar, and build the town hall over them. Mike Mulligan can be the janitor, the steam shovel will keep the building warm in the winter, they won't have to buy a new furnace (Henry B. Swap really likes this frugal thought!) and everyone is happy.
The kids who read it especially like looking at all the tiny details in the pictures, but I think they especially like the small boy finding the solution that none of the adults can figure out.
In retrospect, I suppose it really wasn't that awful to have to read it again and again and again. There is the grandparent's revenge,too - I saved the book with my son's scribblings on it and just handed it over to him, to read again and again and again to his little boy!
Definitely worth buying the hardcover edition!
March 21, 2014
When I first heard about this book, I was wondering to myself what was so special about a book being about a man and his steam shovel. Well, when I read this book I was amazed at how this book turned out! “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel” is a memorable children’s book by Virginia Lee Burton and it is about how a man named Mike Mulligan tries to prove to everyone that his steam shovel, Mary Anne, can dig up a huge cellar for the new town hall in one day. “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel” is a great book for children who love reading about steam shovels and learning about the power of friendship!
Wow! This was such an amazing book! Virginia Lee Burton has done an excellent job at both illustrating and writing this terrific book about the importance of true friendship. Virginia Lee Burton’s writing is simple yet cute at the same time as she effectively tells Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne’s story. What I really loved about this book was how close Mike Mulligan was to his steam shovel, Mary Anne. I thought that it was really cute about how Mike Mulligan gave his steam shovel a beautiful name, since it truly shows how Mike treated his steam shovel like an actual friend rather than a regular machine and I also loved the way that Mike is always praising Mary Anne’s hard work as he truly appreciates Mary Anne’s hard work. I loved how Virginia Lee Burton made Mike into such a caring and confident character, even after he was put out of the job because Mary Anne was too old to compete with the newer steam shovels since he stayed with Mary Anne throughout his career. Virginia Lee Burton’s illustrations are just simply beautiful and colorful and I really loved the image of Mary Anne herself as she looks like an old, fashioned steam shovel and yet has a somewhat human expression as you see her smiling on every page. Another image I loved was the image of Mike Mulligan himself as he looks so small on every page compared to Mary Anne and he wears blue overalls with a red shirt and he also looks really built for doing his job. Another thing I loved about the illustrations were some images where Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne were shown to look like characters that came out of a superhero comic strip as there are some flashing colors around them to indicate that.
This is not really a big deal to me, but the only slight con of this book is that the story and the illustrations might seem a bit outdated for the current generation of children, since this book was made during the 1930s and smaller children might be confused about what steam shovels are and parents or grandparents who were born during the 1930s might be able to explain to their children what times were like during the 1930s involving steam shovels.
Overall, “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel” is a truly heartwarming story about the true importance of friendship that will remain in many children’s hearts for many generations to come. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
March 22, 2013
I just read this one for the very first time today at the request/brute forcing of a co-worker.
So Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, which has eyelashes TO DIE FOR, dig a big hole, but they get so whipped up in digging the hole that the steam shovel is stuck inside. They come up with a solution of sorts. I won't spoil it here, but let me just say that although it's clever, it's poor practice to rely on cleverness to alleviate the problems of poor planning.
Mike Mulligan is a classic children's book character: The Crammer. Remember that story about the grasshopper and the ant? The story where one of them is preparing for winter while the other one is just screwing around? I'm guessing it was the grasshopper who was screwing around. Ants seem pretty industrious while grasshoppers have no occupation other than jumping directly into your face. And some of them can fly, sort of? What the hell?
Anyway, that grasshopper was the classic Crammer who learns a lesson about not doing all his work at the last minute.
Mike Mulligan is like that too. He decides that the answer to his problem is to do a week's worth in one day. He's so confident he'll finish that he stakes his entire wage for the job on it.
It's weird because the book makes it seem that if he pulls off this one job, everything will be great. If he doesn't, he'll be screwed. But it's one day of work. If your financial life rides on one work day, you should probably spend less time steam-shoveling and making steamshovel-related bets and spend more time MAKING MONEY.
As much as Mike Mulligan is a classic character, there's an even more popular children's character in this book: The Unmitigated Asshole.
Henry B. Swap is just a real ass the entire time for no apparent reason. He's always sneering, and he balks at the idea of a steam shovel. Some guy shows up to my town and says he'll dig a foundation in a day, what do I care if he uses a steam shovel? He could use enslaved orphans who are using the corpses of other orphans as shovels if he can get it done in 12 hours. That's really none of my business.
Also, like most UA's in these books, Henry B. Swap comes around at the end. I guess these guys, these unlovable curmudgeons, just need a light miracle to bring them around to being nice for a change. I mean, sure, he spent 35 years drinking himself to oblivion, has been a rude butthole to every person he's ever met, and once he even hit a transient who was trying to hitchhike. And though Henry B. Swap is 70-80% sure that the transient did not survive that impact, all it took was a steam shovel doing an honest day's work to really turn things around for him.
On the plus, I did find this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z1R5...
"But then came a grotesque parade of new shovels..." Classic.
So Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, which has eyelashes TO DIE FOR, dig a big hole, but they get so whipped up in digging the hole that the steam shovel is stuck inside. They come up with a solution of sorts. I won't spoil it here, but let me just say that although it's clever, it's poor practice to rely on cleverness to alleviate the problems of poor planning.
Mike Mulligan is a classic children's book character: The Crammer. Remember that story about the grasshopper and the ant? The story where one of them is preparing for winter while the other one is just screwing around? I'm guessing it was the grasshopper who was screwing around. Ants seem pretty industrious while grasshoppers have no occupation other than jumping directly into your face. And some of them can fly, sort of? What the hell?
Anyway, that grasshopper was the classic Crammer who learns a lesson about not doing all his work at the last minute.
Mike Mulligan is like that too. He decides that the answer to his problem is to do a week's worth in one day. He's so confident he'll finish that he stakes his entire wage for the job on it.
It's weird because the book makes it seem that if he pulls off this one job, everything will be great. If he doesn't, he'll be screwed. But it's one day of work. If your financial life rides on one work day, you should probably spend less time steam-shoveling and making steamshovel-related bets and spend more time MAKING MONEY.
As much as Mike Mulligan is a classic character, there's an even more popular children's character in this book: The Unmitigated Asshole.
Henry B. Swap is just a real ass the entire time for no apparent reason. He's always sneering, and he balks at the idea of a steam shovel. Some guy shows up to my town and says he'll dig a foundation in a day, what do I care if he uses a steam shovel? He could use enslaved orphans who are using the corpses of other orphans as shovels if he can get it done in 12 hours. That's really none of my business.
Also, like most UA's in these books, Henry B. Swap comes around at the end. I guess these guys, these unlovable curmudgeons, just need a light miracle to bring them around to being nice for a change. I mean, sure, he spent 35 years drinking himself to oblivion, has been a rude butthole to every person he's ever met, and once he even hit a transient who was trying to hitchhike. And though Henry B. Swap is 70-80% sure that the transient did not survive that impact, all it took was a steam shovel doing an honest day's work to really turn things around for him.
On the plus, I did find this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z1R5...
"But then came a grotesque parade of new shovels..." Classic.
October 30, 2020
I have several nephews and as I turned each page in the book, my delight grew at the thought of them reading this wonderful story! It's just the right type of book to capture a little boy's attention - it has machinery, it has a competition and it has a victor.
First published in 1939, it possess all the charm of its time! I love the illustrations too! This is definitely worth owning. Ages 4+
Cleanliness: a man smokes a pipe.
**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.
First published in 1939, it possess all the charm of its time! I love the illustrations too! This is definitely worth owning. Ages 4+
Cleanliness: a man smokes a pipe.
**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.
May 15, 2019
I have never forgotten this marvelous children's book that I read and reread many times when I was quite young. I just reread this cherished story again. Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is and always will be one of the greatest children’s books ever written! 5 stars!
December 22, 2023
My son loved reading this book. He loved watching men at work on the big machines too. Easy entertainment!
May 22, 2015
Dopest book ever. Better than 50 shades or potter. Will read every day. 10/10
September 13, 2009
Childhood favorite, I remember hearing this on the Captain Kangaroo show and loving it ever since, not only because the steam shovel's name is Mary Anne (spelled the same way as my name.)
December 27, 2022
What an odd story about obsolescence and repurposing! Riffing off the legend of John Henry, a steam shovel operator wagers that he can completely dig a building foundation in a day with his outdated equipment or he won't get paid. Somehow the whole town gets caught up in this race against time and circle the growing hole to watch.
The cadence of the story is weird, but lends itself to some equally weird experimentation when reading it aloud. Today I tried reading the whole thing as a boxing announcer. The anthropomorphized face on the steam shovel seems out of place and unnecessary, but sure, why not.
For me, the best part is the asterisk near the end of the story where the author acknowledges the little boy next door who came up with an ending when she literally wrote herself into a corner. How candid and considerate.
The cadence of the story is weird, but lends itself to some equally weird experimentation when reading it aloud. Today I tried reading the whole thing as a boxing announcer. The anthropomorphized face on the steam shovel seems out of place and unnecessary, but sure, why not.
For me, the best part is the asterisk near the end of the story where the author acknowledges the little boy next door who came up with an ending when she literally wrote herself into a corner. How candid and considerate.
Read
May 24, 2010I remember making my mom read this to me every night before going to bed. A Classic!
October 28, 2014
A wonderful children's book with a hint of steampunk. I would like it made into a movie as the Peanuts and Dr. Seuss stories were.
December 9, 2020
Virginia Lee Burton is always a favorite.
June 10, 2019
This was given to Hugh when he was born, a gift from friends of my husband's parents (I only know/remember this because they inscribed the book, something I wish more people would do when they give books as gifts!), and up until that moment I had completely forgotten all about this story. It came back to me quickly when I saw the distinctive illustrations and read the story again after all these years. I read it quite a lot as a kid, I loved it so. It's a sad story, yet positive too.
First published in 1939, it speaks to the change of eras, the death of the old and the celebration of shiny new things. Mike Mulligan is a construction worker who, along with his steam shovel (a steam-powered excavator) called Mary Anne, has dug canals, and cut through mountains for railways, and levelled hills for highways. He's always been sure that Mary Anne "could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, but he had never been quite sure that this was true."
But then it gets harder to get new jobs because of "the new gasoline shovels and the new electric shovels and the new Diesel motor shovels" that were taking over. Mike didn't want to sell Mary Anne for junk like all the other steam shovel drivers were dong. "Mike loved Mary Anne. He couldn't do that to her." He had taken good care of her but no one wanted them anymore. Then they hear that the nearby town of Popperville was going to build a new town hall, so they head over and offer their services. Mike makes a deal with one of the selectmen, that if they can dig the cellar in a day they get paid, but if they don't they won't.
Mike and Mary Anne start the next day as the sun is coming up, and they work super fast. As more and more people gather to watch, Mary Anne digs faster and faster. They manage to dig the cellar in a day - a job that would have taken a hundred men a week to do - but then realise that there's no way to get Mary Anne out of the hole she's finished digging. A little boy has a bright idea: why not leave her in the cellar and build the town hall above her? "Let her be the furnace for the new town hall," he says. So that's what they do, and Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne live in the cellar and everyone goes to visit them and tell stories.
Even as a kid I found this story sad, even a bit depressing, though I also loved it and kept coming back to it (I may have been a girl, but I was more interested in cars and tractors and things like that, than dolls - in fact, I had no interest in dolls at all, especially those horrid baby ones that wee when you feed them, I thought that was a useless, boring idea for a doll and I didn't like the way toy companies were trying to make my into a mummy at the age of four! Yes, I really did think that when I was little). Even the illustrations ratchet-up the nostalgia factor, not just because they're 30s style (and the details clearly show that in-between-eras problem, with cars alongside horse-drawn wagons), but because the picture of the town hall being built above Mary Anne and Mike Mulligan looks an awful lot like a prison. Or a cage. Or a museum exhibit. Perhaps the latter, and intentionally so.
There's a lot of text to this story, but two-year-olds can sit through it (prepare to be interrupted by a lot of questions that are hard to answer, though!). Older kids, kindergarten age and older, would get more out of the story but there's lots here for younger ones to enjoy too. Bit too long and involved for the attention span of a kid younger than two though.
First published in 1939, it speaks to the change of eras, the death of the old and the celebration of shiny new things. Mike Mulligan is a construction worker who, along with his steam shovel (a steam-powered excavator) called Mary Anne, has dug canals, and cut through mountains for railways, and levelled hills for highways. He's always been sure that Mary Anne "could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, but he had never been quite sure that this was true."
But then it gets harder to get new jobs because of "the new gasoline shovels and the new electric shovels and the new Diesel motor shovels" that were taking over. Mike didn't want to sell Mary Anne for junk like all the other steam shovel drivers were dong. "Mike loved Mary Anne. He couldn't do that to her." He had taken good care of her but no one wanted them anymore. Then they hear that the nearby town of Popperville was going to build a new town hall, so they head over and offer their services. Mike makes a deal with one of the selectmen, that if they can dig the cellar in a day they get paid, but if they don't they won't.
Mike and Mary Anne start the next day as the sun is coming up, and they work super fast. As more and more people gather to watch, Mary Anne digs faster and faster. They manage to dig the cellar in a day - a job that would have taken a hundred men a week to do - but then realise that there's no way to get Mary Anne out of the hole she's finished digging. A little boy has a bright idea: why not leave her in the cellar and build the town hall above her? "Let her be the furnace for the new town hall," he says. So that's what they do, and Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne live in the cellar and everyone goes to visit them and tell stories.
Even as a kid I found this story sad, even a bit depressing, though I also loved it and kept coming back to it (I may have been a girl, but I was more interested in cars and tractors and things like that, than dolls - in fact, I had no interest in dolls at all, especially those horrid baby ones that wee when you feed them, I thought that was a useless, boring idea for a doll and I didn't like the way toy companies were trying to make my into a mummy at the age of four! Yes, I really did think that when I was little). Even the illustrations ratchet-up the nostalgia factor, not just because they're 30s style (and the details clearly show that in-between-eras problem, with cars alongside horse-drawn wagons), but because the picture of the town hall being built above Mary Anne and Mike Mulligan looks an awful lot like a prison. Or a cage. Or a museum exhibit. Perhaps the latter, and intentionally so.
There's a lot of text to this story, but two-year-olds can sit through it (prepare to be interrupted by a lot of questions that are hard to answer, though!). Older kids, kindergarten age and older, would get more out of the story but there's lots here for younger ones to enjoy too. Bit too long and involved for the attention span of a kid younger than two though.
December 31, 2016
Growing up in the Midwest in the 1960s, this book got a lot of attention at schools and libraries. It was used as a read-aloud by teachers who wanted to show us that hard work gets you what you want, and of course Mike had to go to smalltown USA to find a good home for himself and his shovel. Burton's books also get a passing reference in Beezus and Ramona; not by title, but if you've read them you recognise the reference.
Re-reading it today, I still love the illustrations and the way the text is woven into them. But I also found it interesting that Mike works "faster and better" when he has an audience...and the more audience he has the better he works! Not the lesson my teachers wanted to ingrain in us, I'm sure. He also missed Mrs Beaman's repeated advice to "plan ahead before you get started and make sure you have everything you need!" And that was in second grade, folks!
If you like books by authors such as Robert McCloskey you'll enjoy this. Small children might find it a good read-aloud, though they won't know what a steam-shovel is or how it could be converted into a boiler. (My father was in plumbing and heating, and he couldn't figure that one out either.)
Re-reading it today, I still love the illustrations and the way the text is woven into them. But I also found it interesting that Mike works "faster and better" when he has an audience...and the more audience he has the better he works! Not the lesson my teachers wanted to ingrain in us, I'm sure. He also missed Mrs Beaman's repeated advice to "plan ahead before you get started and make sure you have everything you need!" And that was in second grade, folks!
If you like books by authors such as Robert McCloskey you'll enjoy this. Small children might find it a good read-aloud, though they won't know what a steam-shovel is or how it could be converted into a boiler. (My father was in plumbing and heating, and he couldn't figure that one out either.)
March 10, 2017
I didn't read this book as a child, so I don't have any sentimentality attached to it, unlike many others. I liked it well enough -- I always assumed it must be a bit dated by now, long after the age of steam shovels, but I see that was actually a major theme of the book (obsolescence), and I imagine that's one thing that's helped it endure -- capturing the feeling of loss that can come when an item we feel attached to is becoming obsolete, which happens in any era.
I enjoyed the illustrations, and most of the story, but I thought the ending was a bit strange and improbable.
I enjoyed the illustrations, and most of the story, but I thought the ending was a bit strange and improbable.
February 21, 2023
This is a good old book. I had wondered if this was a true story or not. Google helped me. Turns out the author had written herself into a corner with Mulligan stuck in the hole, and was having dinner with some friends and read the unfinished story to their children. One of the children suggested she end it by having the steam shovel become the furnace for the town hall. Hence the child in the story getting credit of the suggestion.
January 23, 2019
This is one of my favorite authors of children's books. i have read the 4 that I know about to both my kids many times over the years. The art is nice and simple, the story as well. I don't know what it is about Mike Mulligan and Marry Ann, but I love them both. I also like to look into the illustrations for little hidden details, signs and tiny people in the background.
January 17, 2009
This was an interesting story with an odd, but touching ending. Our girls enjoyed that the steam shovel has "eyes," and seems to be alive, but didn't understand why they'd build the town hall around her. Cute story overall.
March 23, 2008
A children's book that still kicks major ass well into adulthood!
October 27, 2011
One of my favorite books when I was growing up, and it was also one of the saddest stories I read growing up too.
October 7, 2019
Certainly, a book of the time. Mature but not over kids heads
June 10, 2012
Not sure it it's a "modern" classic, because many things in it will honestly not look very modern to your 4 year old, but it's definitely a classic. And what little boy doesn't hold a fascination for any type of construction machine/vehicle. So, my little boy asked me to read the story about the Steam Shovel, the anthropomorphic Mary Ann. The first time I read it, while it's a sweet story, I was a little bummed myself about the ending, and felt somewhat let down. As I read it again, it started making more sense to me. Also, we have this story in our collection, The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury, where often the pictures are condensed: When reading through it the first time, I was thinking that it would be nice to see the colorful pictures of Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann in bigger format, so we borrowed the original at the library. Indeed, a number of the wonderful pictures were missing in the "Treasury" edition, so reading the book turned into a whole new, and much more pleasant experience. The colorful illustrations, packed with detail, carry more than half the story. This book is a gem!
And, if you like Mike Mulligan, you may want to try another classic author Bill Peet's stories about Smokey and The Caboose Who Got Loose.
And, if you like Mike Mulligan, you may want to try another classic author Bill Peet's stories about Smokey and The Caboose Who Got Loose.
July 8, 2019
Boy, does this bring back memories! I was born in 1937, just two years before this book was published, and I remember the title and my Grandmother reading it to me. I can’t say I remembered the story, though; so it was good to read it again. It is a delightful story of cooperation, support of others, and there is a hint of Dr. Seuss’s writing (even before he began writing!). As I’ve written in other reviews, I owe my love of books and reading to my Grandmother who lived with us. Every day before I started school and during summer when I was in school we would lay on her bed and she read to my sister and I. My dear patient Grandmother would drift off to sleep. I remember shaking her to continue reading! What a gift!
December 19, 2016
Also read in childhood.
Read during a kindergarten class visit on 10/12/12:
http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
Read at Preschool Story Time on 10/12/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
Read at the Psychiatric Institute on 5/13/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
Read during a kindergarten class visit on 10/12/12:
http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
Read at Preschool Story Time on 10/12/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
Read at the Psychiatric Institute on 5/13/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
May 5, 2014
Shows great problem solving. I have never been very interested in cars, trucks, steam shovels or other machines. But this is a perfect book for a little boy or girl who loves them.
January 2, 2019
I loved it. I think it's a good story about steam shovels. - G, age 6
It was awesome. - R, age 3
It was awesome. - R, age 3
March 25, 2024
**Found in the 20th Century Children's Book Treasury**
October 22, 2020
Featured in grandma reads session.
I love all of Virginia Lee Burton's books! Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was published in 1939 and was not just one of my favorites, it was one of my Dad's when he was a tot! Burton wrote the story and with her handy crayons did the illustrations also. Talented lady.
Others of hers that are less well known are: Maybelle (a cable car); The Little House; Life Story (the story of life on earth from its beginning up to now - as understood by VL Burton); Choo Choo (the story of a little engine who ran away); Calico (the wonder horse) or The Saga of Stewy Stinker; and Katy and the Big Snow (a versatile tractor who bulldozes in fair weather and snowplows in foul weather). Check them out - my crew loved hearing about the connection to their beloved great grampy. Many of the books I read are from my past and are my family's favorites. I know kids are going to find the books they want to read and read them - which is wonderful. All have different tastes. But no one can show them the pasts of me and my family better than me (since very few now remain) and the books families read to each other in their most intimate and private times - end of day, around the fire, settling in for the safe space families create for each other when they sleep - that's a feeling I can summon up with the real books we read and which were read to us. The pandemic has been awful, but there are a few lessons it teaches that are worth embracing.
Wherever you are Virginia Lee Burton, I hope you know we love your books and your efforts to get them out in the wide world of readers!
5 stars. For Mike, Mary Anne and all the townspeople. . .
I love all of Virginia Lee Burton's books! Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was published in 1939 and was not just one of my favorites, it was one of my Dad's when he was a tot! Burton wrote the story and with her handy crayons did the illustrations also. Talented lady.
Others of hers that are less well known are: Maybelle (a cable car); The Little House; Life Story (the story of life on earth from its beginning up to now - as understood by VL Burton); Choo Choo (the story of a little engine who ran away); Calico (the wonder horse) or The Saga of Stewy Stinker; and Katy and the Big Snow (a versatile tractor who bulldozes in fair weather and snowplows in foul weather). Check them out - my crew loved hearing about the connection to their beloved great grampy. Many of the books I read are from my past and are my family's favorites. I know kids are going to find the books they want to read and read them - which is wonderful. All have different tastes. But no one can show them the pasts of me and my family better than me (since very few now remain) and the books families read to each other in their most intimate and private times - end of day, around the fire, settling in for the safe space families create for each other when they sleep - that's a feeling I can summon up with the real books we read and which were read to us. The pandemic has been awful, but there are a few lessons it teaches that are worth embracing.
Wherever you are Virginia Lee Burton, I hope you know we love your books and your efforts to get them out in the wide world of readers!
5 stars. For Mike, Mary Anne and all the townspeople. . .
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