Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (Patricia Crist

MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL: A GENERATIONAL INSPIRATION By: Patricia J. Crist

When my son, Tim, was young, he fell in love with the story Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. His grandmother gave him a toy steam shovel, which he named Mary Ann. He dug “town hall cellars” in the sand pile in the backyard but always provided a way for Mary Ann to get out, unlike the story version where Mary Ann is converted into a boiler for the new town hall and Mike gets a new job as its janitor. Although my husband and I grew tired of reading this story, we did it anyway but were grateful when Tim could read it by himself. One year when I was still teaching, I had a student with reading and school adjustment difficulties, so I recommended Beverly Cleary’s Ramona the Pest. The girl asked me about the story Miss Binney was reading to her students – Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel - as she thought it was really funny that Ramona asked the teacher how Mike Mulligan went to the bathroom while digging the cellar. I brought in Tim’s old copy of the story, and she read that too, but informed me there was no mention of a bathroom for Mike. Later, when our grandson Steve was little, we read Mike Mulligan to him and bought him a toy steam shovel, which he did not name, but dug lots of holes in the sand during our beach trips. Tim, Steve’s Dad, is now 47, and we are downsizing for a move to a Senior Continuing Care Community. I asked him if he’d like any of his childhood things, and he, of course, chose Mike Mulligan.