Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, have a very important job. They dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for big city skyscrapers— the very symbol of modern industrial America. But with progress comes new machines, and soon the inseparable duo are out of work. Mike believes that Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week, and the two have one last chance to prove it and save Mary Anne from the scrap heap. What happens next in the small town of Popperville is a testament to their friendship, as well as old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity.

This Read-Along Book and CD Favorite includes a paperback edition of the book and a compact disc in a newly designed reusable package.

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The easy to remember and recite text, and the early 40s middle America drawings combine to create an evocative time piece.

I believe this is one book that will cut past the computer generated entertainment for today's youngsters, and prove to be a classic in generations to come.

If parents don't buy this for their kids, then I hope they'll buy it for themselves.

Great ending too!

62 of 69 found the following review helpful:

How I dreaded those nights............Aug 03, 2000
By Quaker Annie "reader"
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 At the time the story is written (1939) Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne, his steam shovel, are becoming outdated.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. I've got the original hardcover in hand, waiting for the grandkids!

Definitely worth buying the hardcover edition!

22 of 25 found the following review helpful:

A Winner Never Quits!May 18, 2002
By Wendy Kaplan
Oh how wonderful this book is, in so many different ways. Written in the 40s, its illustrations hark back to an earlier era, when children were allowed to be children, and when the values we taught them were couched in terms that a child could understand. Instead of violence and video games.

Mike Mulligan and his faithful steam shovel Mary Ann have been "downsized," if you will, by the advent of gasoline-powered engines, and other "modern miracles" that have made poor, faithful Mary Ann obsolete overnight. In order to find work, Mike and Mary Ann travel over hill and dale until they come to the small town of Popperville. There, they find that the town mayor is taking bids to dig the basement for a brand-new skyscraper. Mike makes a bid, and is met with laughter. But instead of giving up...INSTEAD OF GIVING UP...he makes a deal. He and Mary Ann will dig the basement in one day. If they don't make it, they won't accept payment.

The valiant steamshovel and the equally valiant Mike set off to prove to the world that they are not obsolete, not worthless...just because they are old, just because they are now different, they still have value! And they dig, and they dig, and they dig. And soon they have attracted a large audience, all of whom are pulling for the team to win, even though it seems impossible.

In the end, Mike and Mary Ann have prevailed. They have dug the basement in one day! But just when they are being celebrated as heroes, a terrible problem arises. Mary Ann cannot get back out of the hole. What is to happen? Was it all for nothing?

The ingenious solution to the problem, and the sheer joy of the solution, warms my heart as much today as it ever did. This is a wonderful way of teaching children to persevere, to glory in their "otherness" and to grab life with both hands. It is a treasure, a classic becaue it deserves to be.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Henry B. Swap learns a lessonOct 27, 1999
By PAUL DRAGAVON (dragavon@aol.com)
Few of us have ever seen a steam shovel in action, even we who had this great story read to us the first time around, back in '39. The diesel shovel digging out the neighbor's cellar down the street just didn't have the personality of Mary Anne and the operators didn't seem to have the determination of Mike Mulligan, though they always left a cellar ramp clear so they could get out when they were done.

But the tension in this story builds as the sun gets high in the sky and goes down so fast, as the dirt flies, the townfolks cheer and the job gets done only to have Henry B. Swap smile in his "rather mean way" when it is discovered that no exit was dug for Mary Anne to get out of the hole. Then "the little boy," who might have been me, or might have been my daughter when I read the story to her, or my grandson when I read the story to him, comes up with the idea that makes Ol' Henry B. Swap "smile in a way that wasn't quite so mean."

And finally, in semi-retirement, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne don't have to compete any longer with the new-fangled machines and Henry B. Swap is there, "smiling in a way that isn't mean at all." There in Poppervile they have the contentment in aging that is worth dreaming about.

One of the Great Books!

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