Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Story and Pictures by Virginia Lee Burton
This book (originally published in 1939) was one of my favorites as a child, which may have been influenced by my father's love of stories about large pieces of machinery and engineering...we also frequently read Burton's other books Katy and the Big Snow (about a snow plow) and The Little House (about a house in the country that has a whole city grow up around it, and eventually gets moved back out into the country). We read a lot of books about trying as hard as possible and believing in yourself, a theme that runs through this book.
The detailed illustrations show an old fashioned world complete with a milkman and his horse-drawn wagon and, of course, the steam shovel (also known as Mary Ann). Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann find themselves obsolete in a world powered by gasoline and diesel rather then steam, and set out to prove they still have value in the modern world which seems to have passed them by. They head for the little town of Popperville, where they dig a whole basement for the new city hall in just one day! The more people who come to watch them, the faster and better they dig. Unfortunately, they forgot one crucial step when digging. A little boy who has been watching all day steps in with an unusual solution and saves the day, managing to save the town some money at the same time.
This story does a good job of illustrating that even older people (or technology, as it were) has a value. They may not be the newest, shiniest, youngest team out there but Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann work as hard as they can to show how useful they are, and it pays off. If Mary Ann had been made with a diesel or gasoline engine rather than steam, her intriguing late-in-life career change would not have been possible.
I've read this book and I've always really loved it - really shows that you should never underestimate anything! What age group do you think would be appropriate for this?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like such a sweet book! I love books that show the value of older people and the value of things that aren't shiny and new! Though I always wonder with these books, how much do you have to explain some of the old fashioned stuff to the kids. Totally will not stop me from reading them to them though!
ReplyDeleteI remember my parents reading it to me from a pretty young age...maybe 5 or 6? I'm sure I didn't always get the deeper meanings in it, but from the beginning I just liked the idea of an anthropomorphic piece of earth moving equipment.
ReplyDeleteI do remember asking about the old fashioned pictures, but I always loved looking at how things used to be compared with how they are now. The fact that the book deals with the issue of modernization makes the older illustrations have even more impact, as you can see its a different world that Mary Ann was useful in.