Lee Virginia Burton
This is certainly one of the classics. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel Mary Anne run out of work. All the new shovels, like the electric shovels and the Diesel engine shovels are taking their jobs away. They go to the town of Popperville to get a job there for building the new Town Hall cellar. Their offer is to do it in a day, or do the job for free. As they dig very fast, they forget to leave an exit and are stuck in the cellar. A little boy had an idea. They leave Mary Anne in the cellar to be the heater of the building and Mike Mulligan becomes the janitor.
For my two year old this story is much too long, but my five year old really enjoys it. It is a great story about construction, about engines, about adventure. One thing that I thought might be harder for him to understand are things related to the different time this book takes place at. Things like steam engines for instance, but he doesn't seem to mind one bit.
The graphics are what I think one would call pencil drawings. They are detailed and interestingly made. Usually there is a drawing covering half a page or something similar, whereas newer children's books seem to have drawings covering almost the entire page.
The language is great. Simple enough for a five year old to understand but also challenging at the same time and perhaps too much for a younger child.
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