Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
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| Author | Virginia Lee Burton |
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| Publisher | Riverside Press (Cambridge, Mass.), Houghton Mifflin Company |
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Publication date
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1939 |
| Pages | 48 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 170273 |
| LC Class | PZ7.B954 Mi 1967 |
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel () is a children's book by Virginia Lee Burton. First published in 1939, during the Great Depression, it features Mike Mulligan, a steam shovel operator, and his steam shovel Mary Anne. It is considered a classic favorite of children's literature: based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association ranked the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."
An animated short film of the same name, directed by Michael Sporn, was adapted from the book and first aired by HBO in 1990; it has been regularly shown as an "HBO Storybook Musical" and has been released on DVD.
After many years of working successfully together, Mike and his classic steam shovel Mary Anne face competition from more modern gasoline, electric, and diesel motor shovels. Seeking an area of the country where his classic steam shovel can still find work, Mike finds a small town that is about to build a new town hall. The authorities react with disbelief when Mike claims that he and his steam shovel Mary Anne can dig the cellar in a single day; they protest that it would take a hundred men a week. Mike insists that Mary Anne can finish the job in one day, though he privately has some doubts.
At sunup the next day, Mike and Mary Anne begin work and just complete the task by sundown. But, they neglected to dig a ramp for driving out of the construction pit. A watching child suggests that Mike take the job of janitor for the town hall, and that Mary Anne should be converted to a boiler for the town hall's heating system.
According to a 2006 article in The Boston Globe, the author was inspired to convert the steam shovel to a furnace by the son of friends, as they all discussed the book over dinner:
At dinner on Chestnut Hill that evening, the author told the Albertsons and Berkenbushes about her dilemma. She had written Mike and Mary Anne into a literal corner -- they were stuck in the hole they dug for the Town Hall basement. Dick, then about 12 years old, suggested the steam shovel could become the building's heating source. It was a simple notion, he said. "My father had a garage in town that had a steam heating system, so I was familiar with it."
(Note: The first edition of the book spelled Dick Berkenbush's name incorrectly in a footnote crediting him with this idea.)
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Wikipedia