Work record
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
1939 · Early 20th Century · Novella · English
Abstract
Background. Made in Gloucester, Massachusetts, as the Depression closed, the story honours a fading kind of machine and was dedicated to Burton's young son, who appears in its pages. A friend's boy supplied the idea that resolves it.
Plot. Having built waterways, railway cuttings and highways, the pair lose their trade to engines that burn oil and electricity. They stake everything on a dawn-to-dusk job in a country town: if the foundation hole for the municipal building is not complete by nightfall, they work for nothing. Onlookers swell into a cheering throng, the task ends on time, and the shovel is trapped below until a child proposes she stay as the boiler while her owner tends the building.
Form. Pictures track the sun's arc and the deepening pit, and refrains of speed and noise let listeners count down the hours. Each new spread adds more spectators around the rim, so the growing audience becomes a second clock.
Themes. Faithfulness to an old companion, effort spurred by encouragement, a promise kept against the clock, and a setback turned into a lasting home.
Significance. In print continuously since publication and filmed in 1990 and 2006, it remains one of the most loved American read-aloud books and a model for machine stories that followed.
Main characters
- Mike Mulligan: Operator who keeps faith with his outdated machine
- Mary Anne: Red steam shovel with a personality, his partner
- Henry B. Swap: Sceptical Popperville official who takes the wager
- The little boy: Child onlooker who devises the happy ending
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Summary
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is a picture book about a man and the red steam shovel he names Mary Anne. Mike is proud of her and likes to say that she can dig in one day what a hundred men could dig in a week. Together they dig canals for big boats, cut through mountains so trains can pass, lower hills and straighten curves for highways, and scoop out deep cellars for city skyscrapers. Then new gasoline, electric and diesel shovels arrive and take all the work, and old steam shovels are sold for junk. Mike will not abandon Mary Anne. Reading that the small town of Popperville means to build a new town hall, they travel there, and Mike promises Henry B. Swap, a town official, that they will dig the cellar in a single day, and that the town need not pay if they fail. Henry B. Swap agrees with a mean smile. At sunrise they start. A little boy comes to watch, and Mike says Mary Anne works faster and better with someone looking on. Word spreads, and the constable, the postman, the telegraph boy, the milkman and others gather around the hole, cheering as the dirt flies. Just as the sun sets the cellar is finished, square and neat, but Mike has forgotten to leave a ramp, so Mary Anne cannot climb out. The crowd argues about what to do until the little boy suggests that Mary Anne stay below as the furnace of the new town hall and Mike become its janitor. Everyone agrees. The book ends with Mary Anne heating the building and Henry B. Swap spending his days in the cellar listening to Mike's stories, now smiling kindly. Burton's colour pictures show swirling dirt, sun moving across the sky and a growing crowd. Houghton Mifflin published the book in 1939, dedicated to Burton's son Michael, who is drawn as the little boy.
Virtues in this work
- Friendship: Mike refuses to sell Mary Anne for junk when the new shovels take their work, and he looks for a job they can do together.
- Industry: Mike and Mary Anne dig without stopping from sunrise to sunset to finish the Popperville cellar in a single day.
- Honor: Mike stakes his pay on a promise to Henry B. Swap and keeps it before the last light fades.
- Prudence: The little boy thinks past the argument of the grown-ups and sees that the trapped shovel can become the town hall's furnace.
Plot or Argument
- Mike and Mary Anne at work
Mike and his steam shovel Mary Anne dig canals, mountain passes for railways, highway cuts and skyscraper cellars across the country.
- Replaced by new machines
Gasoline, electric and diesel shovels take the jobs away; other steam shovels go to the junk heap, but Mike keeps Mary Anne.
- The bargain in Popperville
Mike offers to dig the cellar for Popperville's new town hall in one day or forfeit payment, and Henry B. Swap accepts.
- The day of digging
From sunrise to sunset Mary Anne digs faster and faster as a little boy and then much of the town gather to watch and cheer.
- No way out, and a new job
The finished cellar has no exit for the shovel; the little boy proposes that Mary Anne become the town hall's furnace and Mike its janitor, and the town agrees.
Characters
- Mike Mulligan, protagonist
A steam-shovel operator who stays loyal to his old machine and wagers on her one last time.
- Mary Anne, the steam shovel
Mike's beautiful red steam shovel, treated as a companion with feelings, who digs her best when someone is watching.
- Henry B. Swap, town official of Popperville
The doubtful official who accepts Mike's bargain hoping to get the cellar dug for nothing, and who softens by the end.
- The little boy, first watcher and problem-solver
A child who watches all day and thinks of the plan that lets Mary Anne stay in Popperville; drawn after Burton's son Michael.
- The townspeople of Popperville, the crowd
The constable, postman, telegraph boy, milkman and others who come to watch the race against the sun.
Lessons
Loyalty to an old friend
When new machines make Mary Anne old-fashioned, Mike refuses to sell her for junk and goes looking for work they can do together. The book shows young children faithfulness that does not depend on being newest or best.
- Why did nobody want Mike and Mary Anne to dig for them anymore?
- What did Mike decide to do instead of selling Mary Anne?
- Do you have an old toy or thing you still love even though it is not new?
Working hard with others cheering
Mike says Mary Anne digs faster and better when people watch, and the more the crowd grows, the faster the dirt flies. Children see that encouragement from friends and neighbours helps a hard job get done.
- Who was the first person to come and watch Mary Anne dig?
- What happened to Mary Anne's digging as more people came?
- How can you help someone who is working hard on something?
A small person with a good idea
The grown-ups cannot agree how to get Mary Anne out of the hole, and it is the little boy who finds an answer that helps everyone. Burton reminds children that their thinking matters and that a problem can sometimes be turned into a new beginning.
- What mistake did Mike make when he dug the cellar?
- What was the little boy's idea, and why was it a good one?
- Why do you think the grown-ups listened to the little boy?
Keeping a promise
Mike promises to finish the cellar in one day or go unpaid, and he and Mary Anne work until the very last ray of sunlight to keep his word. The race against the sun makes the cost of a promise easy for a child to feel.
- What did Mike promise Henry B. Swap?
- How do the pictures show that time is running out?
- Why is it important to do what you say you will do?
Context
Burton made the book at the end of the 1930s, when steam-powered shovels, the workhorses of American canal, railway and road building since the 19th century, were being replaced by gasoline and diesel machines. The Great Depression had left many workers and old trades without a place, and the story of a loyal man and an outdated machine who find a new use in a small New England-style town spoke to that time.
Composition
Burton wrote and illustrated the book while living in Folly Cove, Gloucester, and dedicated it to her son Michael. According to a 2006 Boston Globe account cited by later sources, the solution to the ending, using the shovel to heat the building, came from a boy of about twelve, Dick Berkeley, the son of friends, during a dinner conversation. Houghton Mifflin published the book in Boston in 1939.
Reception
The book has never gone out of print and is among the best-known American picture books of its century. It was adapted as an HBO animated short in 1990 and by Weston Woods Studios in 2006, was read on the children's television programme Captain Kangaroo, and has been named in National Education Association lists of teachers' favourite books for children.
Comparisons
- the-little-house
Burton's next picture book turns the steam shovel from hero to agent of change: shovels cut the road that brings the city to the Little House, while here a shovel finds a home in a small town.
- homer-price
McCloskey's Centerburg, with its runaway doughnut machine, is another small American town where a gadget causes trouble and a quick-thinking boy and curious neighbours gather to see it through.
- caps-for-sale
Another picture book of the period built on repetition and a lone working man with his stock in trade; both peddler and shovel operator face a crisis and solve it by a sudden turn.
- the-velveteen-rabbit
Both books give a beloved, worn object feelings of its own and ask what happens when it is no longer new, and both end with that object given a new life.
- life-on-the-mississippi
Twain mourns the steamboat pilot's trade after the railroads take the river traffic; Mike and Mary Anne meet the same fate from newer machines, though their story ends in a new job rather than a memory.
Quotes
“Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel.”
“He always said that she could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week”
For Students
A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.
Reading Guide
Watch for
- Where the sun is in the sky on each page of the digging day.
- How many people are watching, and how the crowd gets bigger.
- The face Mary Anne seems to have, and when she looks happy or tired.
- The moment Mike realises there is no way out of the cellar.
Key terms and names
- Steam shovel
- A big digging machine with a bucket on a long arm, powered by a steam engine; Mary Anne is one.
- Cellar
- The room dug under a building; Mike and Mary Anne must dig the cellar for Popperville's new town hall.
- Town hall
- The building where a town's leaders meet and do the town's business.
- Furnace
- A machine in a basement that burns fuel to heat a building; Mary Anne becomes the town hall's furnace.
- Janitor
- A person who takes care of a building, keeping it clean, warm and in good repair; Mike's new job.
- Diesel
- A kind of engine that runs on oil fuel; diesel shovels are among the new machines that take Mary Anne's work.
Seminar Questions
- Comprehension What kinds of digging did Mike and Mary Anne do before they came to Popperville?
- Comprehension What did Mike promise Henry B. Swap, and what would happen if he did not finish in time?
- Comprehension How did the little boy solve the problem at the end?
- Interpretation Why do you think Mary Anne dug faster when people were watching?
- Interpretation Why did Henry B. Swap smile a mean smile at first? Why did he smile differently at the end?
- Interpretation Was it a sad thing or a happy thing that Mary Anne could not get out of the cellar?
- Big Question When someone or something gets old, how should we treat them?
Faith Connections
- Ecclesiastes 9:10 (Scripture)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Mike and Mary Anne put all their strength into the Popperville cellar from sunrise until sunset.
- Proverbs 17:17 (Scripture)
Solomon's proverb praises the friend whose love does not change with circumstances. Mike stays with Mary Anne when every contractor has switched to diesel and finds a way for them to keep working together.
- Psalm 71:9 (Scripture)
The psalmist prays not to be cast off in old age. Mary Anne is out of date, but she is not thrown away; she finds a new and useful place.
Logic and Rhetoric
Central argument: An old machine with a loyal friend and a good day's work can still do what new machines do. Mike and Mary Anne dig the whole cellar in one day, so the boast is proved true. And when their success leaves them stuck, a little boy's idea shows that being old-fashioned can be turned into a new kind of usefulness.
Rhetorical device: repetition (refrain). Throughout the digging day the text repeats how Mary Anne digs faster and better as the crowd grows, so that young listeners can join in and feel the race against the setting sun.
Debate: Resolved: that the new diesel shovels were better than Mary Anne.
Writing Prompts
Essay: Tell the story of the digging day in Popperville in three parts, morning, noon and sunset, and say how Burton shows the time in her pictures.
Comparison with The Little House: In this book a steam shovel is the hero. In The Little House, steam shovels help bring the city. Compare how Burton shows machines in the two books.
Creative Prompts
- Classroom
Draw the sun at four places across one long paper strip, from sunrise to sunset, and under each sun draw how deep Mary Anne's hole is by then.
- Classroom
Make a list of everyone who came to watch Mary Anne dig, and act out the crowd growing one person at a time.
- Fiction
Tell what a winter day is like for Mary Anne as the furnace of the Popperville town hall.
- Dialogue
Act out the little boy explaining his idea to Mike Mulligan and Henry B. Swap.
Further Reading
- The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
- Katy and the Big Snow, Virginia Lee Burton
Another Burton book about a hard-working machine, a crawler tractor that plows out a snowbound town.
- Choo Choo, Virginia Lee Burton
Burton's first picture book (1937), about a runaway locomotive.
Verification notes
Publication (Houghton Mifflin, 1939), the HBO (1990) and Weston Woods (2006) adaptations, the Captain Kangaroo readings and the 2006 Boston Globe account crediting Dick Berkeley with the furnace idea were checked against en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Mulligan_and_His_Steam_Shovel. The dedication to Burton's son Michael, aged four, and his appearance as the little boy were checked against the University of Florida's Recess! programme page (recess.ufl.edu/literature/1999/mike-mulligan-and-his-steam-shovel). Henry B. Swap, Popperville, the one-day bargain, the furnace and janitor ending and Swap's later visits to the cellar were confirmed by several search summaries. Both quotations were checked against the essay 'Holing Up' in The New Inquiry (thenewinquiry.com/holing-up/), which prints them with the book's line breaks; the second is a sentence fragment as printed there, without its closing punctuation. One essay names the boy who suggested the ending differently from the Globe account; the record follows the Globe.
- Text is under copyright; check quotations against an authorized edition before publication.
- Henry B. Swap's exact title (often given as selectman; some summaries say town councillor).
- The full list of townspeople who come to watch, and whether a fire department or Mrs. McGillicuddy is among them.
- The National Education Association list or year in which the book was named.
- The jobs Mike and Mary Anne did before Popperville, as listed in the opening pages (canals, railway cuts, highways, skyscraper cellars; possibly airports).