Rating: 
Summary: Great!
Review: As a child Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was one of my favorite books and I remember checking it out of the library several times and I think I was finally given my own copy. The story is about a man named Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel that he has named Mary Anne and I highly recommend this book. It's great!
Rating:
Summary: Just a Fantastic, Wonderful Classic!
Review: As a girl, I read this book a bunch of times and found it very neat. My little one just absolutely loves this book and finds it so neat how Mary Ann and Mike can dig holes so very fast. He loves to watch them build things and work hard, but was really intrigued how Mary Ann could turn into a furnace. What a great, timeless classic to be enjoyed by kids everywhere. I came back and bought it for my child so you know, it's timeless.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody can do it like a steam shovel
Review: I tend to bring a lot of picture books into my home. My husband doesn't mind, but neither does he show an inordinate amount of interest in them. Enter "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel". Suddenly my husband was elated by the appearance of this book. "This was the only book we had in my Kindergarten class!", quoth he. After he'd picked through it once more, I had my chance to glance through the story. Admittedly, I did not know of the adventures of Mike Mulligan or trusty Mary Ann until rather late in life. But looking at my hubby's gleeful expression on seeing it again, I know that this is one of those classics that sits in the back of the memory for years and years and years.Mike Mulligan (Irish, according to the book flap) runs a delightful steam shovel named Mary Ann. The opening spread shows Mike waving at the viewer, while meticulous arrows indicate every lever, cog, and line in Mary Ann's hull. In a rather John Henryish turn of events, Mary Ann is eventually determined to be obsolete in the face of the fancier gasoline, electric and Diesel shovels. Mike refuses to give up his precious steam shovel, however, and a race to prove that Mary Ann can dig as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week explodes in a riveting (ho ho) finish. Books about trucks, construction equipment, and planes is commonplace today. But such modern day classics as "I Stink" owe a great debt to the path that "Mike Mulligan" paved. Here we have a beautifully illustrated (in color at that!) story about two of the best friends in the world. Those kids interested in the technical aspects of steam shovels will be in heaven. And those that just like a rip-roaring yarn about a race against the clock will have a ball as well. Interestingly, author/illustrator Virginia Lee Burton chooses not to close up on Mike Mulligan's face at any point. When we do see him, he's usually viewed at a distance, waving, weeping, and smoking to his heart's content. It's Mary Ann that get the full frontal treatment, and she's a joy. Who could have thought a steam shovel to be so eloquent and emotional? That's the joy of this story and the genius of Virginia Lee Burton's masterwork.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody can do it like a steam shovel
Review: I tend to bring a lot of picture books into my home. My husband doesn't mind, but neither does he show an inordinate amount of interest in them. Enter "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel". Suddenly my husband was elated by the appearance of this book. "This was the only book we had in my Kindergarten class!", quoth he. After he'd picked through it once more, I had my chance to glance through the story. Admittedly, I did not know of the adventures of Mike Mulligan or trusty Mary Ann until rather late in life. But looking at my hubby's gleeful expression on seeing it again, I know that this is one of those classics that sits in the back of the memory for years and years and years. Mike Mulligan (Irish, according to the book flap) runs a delightful steam shovel named Mary Ann. The opening spread shows Mike waving at the viewer, while meticulous arrows indicate every lever, cog, and line in Mary Ann's hull. In a rather John Henryish turn of events, Mary Ann is eventually determined to be obsolete in the face of the fancier gasoline, electric and Diesel shovels. Mike refuses to give up his precious steam shovel, however, and a race to prove that Mary Ann can dig as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week explodes in a riveting (ho ho) finish. Books about trucks, construction equipment, and planes is commonplace today. But such modern day classics as "I Stink" owe a great debt to the path that "Mike Mulligan" paved. Here we have a beautifully illustrated (in color at that!) story about two of the best friends in the world. Those kids interested in the technical aspects of steam shovels will be in heaven. And those that just like a rip-roaring yarn about a race against the clock will have a ball as well. Interestingly, author/illustrator Virginia Lee Burton chooses not to close up on Mike Mulligan's face at any point. When we do see him, he's usually viewed at a distance, waving, weeping, and smoking to his heart's content. It's Mary Ann that get the full frontal treatment, and she's a joy. Who could have thought a steam shovel to be so eloquent and emotional? That's the joy of this story and the genius of Virginia Lee Burton's masterwork.
Rating:
Summary: My almost 3 year old LOVES it
Review: I vaguely remembered this book from childhood and hadn't seen it around lately so wondered if it was maybe not PC, somehow, so I checked it out from the library and was thrilled that while it has some MILDLY sexist language, "girl who answers the telephones" instead of woman or lady, It is a charming and relevant story of overcoming obstacles and maybe even depression. My son loves it. I just hope his personal copy arrives before I have to take the library copy back! He is mesmerized by the illustrations and the little boy, especially. The emotions evidently speak to him, also. He is very empathetic and concerned that Mike and Mary Anne are sad when they have no work. I would highly recommend it, even though it's hard to explain about obsolescence to an almost three year old.
Rating:
Summary: Can Mike Mulligan & Mary Anne dig a cellar in just one day?
Review: In the 19th-century it was the story of John Henry the steel-driving man who lost a race to a machine. In the 20th-century a slightly different lesson was offered up in Virginia Lee Burton's children's classic "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel." The Steam Shovel in question is named Mary Anne and all you have to do is see the glint in her eye and the smile on her "lips" to know that she is special. Unfortunately, there are new gasoline shovels and new electric shovels and even shovels with diesel motors, and there is little left for an old steam shovel to do. ... The illustrations from this 1939 classic are charming and quaint, but that is the nature of this tale and even in the 21st-century where atomic shovels may be around the corner, there is still a valuable lesson to be learned from "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" about how doing a job well means you will always find a place in the world.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it as a child, my childern love it too.
Review: Just thinking about this delightful book makes me smile. I remember Captain Kangaroo reading it on his television show, and I checked it out from the Bookmobile with my own library card.
Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann are best friends and co-workers. They might be running out of work soon, though, since Mary Ann runs on steam--not as efficient as the diesel shovels. A bargain with the town of Popperville gives the twosome one last shot to strut their stuff, and as the town gathers, a few residents at a time, Mike and Mary Ann prove that friendship lasts, even when diesel shovels take over.
This book is equally appealing to boys and girls, and it will forever occupy a favored place in my memories. It's as wonderful a story today as it was when published in 1939. God bless Mike and Mary Ann.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book!
Review: Like so many other reviewers I have fond memories of reading this book as a child. I fondly recall being a child in the 1970's and of having had this book read to me and when I got older and could read on my own I read it myself and I enjoyed the story of Mike Mulligan and his beloved steam shovel Mary Anne and recall this book having positive messages as well as being an entertaining book for children. Mike Mulligan is a steam shovel operator who has named his machine Mary Anne and they have worked very hard for many years digging canels, etc but times have changed and with steam shovels being replaced by electric, gasoline and diesel shovels Mary Anne is thought of as being obsolete but Mike is a very positive and determined man who knows that he and Mary Anne still have what it takes and to prove that he agrees to dig the foundation for a new building but has to do it in one day but he knows that they are up for the challenge. Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel is a wonderful book for children and I think it's good for both boys and girls and I very highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A story that never gets old
Review: My son loves this book and I love reading it to him. It will quickly become a favorite in your house too.
Rating: 
Summary: Nightmarish
Review: The steam-shovel is personified enough in the book, and at the age I was introduced to this book, I had a fuzzier concept of animate vs inanimate. The ending... living forever in a basement, immobile, was hellish. I cried in horror at the steam-shovel's fate. While I wouldn't recommend this book to any child, I would be especially cautious if the child has demonstrated any interest in construction machinary.
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