Are your children fascinated by powerful machines: construction equipment, planes, trains, ships, and the like? The invention of each of these brings exciting new possibilities into our world. Sometimes, though, progress has a downside. Progress moves forward leaving some past inventions behind. Such is the case in the story of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.
Mike Mulligan owns his own steam shovel, whom he affectionately calls Mary Anne. The two of them accomplish amazing feats over many years of working together. Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dig canals for big ships, cut level pathways through the mountains for trains, create long highways for cars and trucks, and make level landing strips for airplanes. Consequently, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne’s work is meaningful and important.
But then, gasoline shovels and electric shovels, and Diesel shovels come along and take all the jobs away from the steam shovels. No jobs for steam shovels anywhere. Until . . . Mike Mulligan sees an ad in the newspaper for a small town out in country that is going to build a cellar for their new town hall.
Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne leave the bustling city and head out to the country. He hopes to be the one to dig the cellar for the Popperville Town Hall. So Mike Mulligan bolsters himself by two thoughts. He believes that he can dig more in one day with Mary Anne than a hundred men can do in one week, and he believes that he and Mary Anne are able to dig faster and better if they have an audience to watch them work. Therefore, He proposes to the selectmen that he will dig the cellar of the new town hall in one day. If he fails to accomplish this, the town of Popperville does not need to pay him for his work.
Can Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dig the cellar for the new town hall in one day? Will anyone in the town come out to watch and help Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dig faster and better? Will this job of digging the cellar lead to meaningful work for Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne in the future? Read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton to find out.