Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (2007, Hardcover, Board)

I bought this book for my 4 year old friend. I loved this book in my own childhood, and after buying him a vintage steam shovel on e-bay, I thought it would be fun to include the book as part of his Christmas gift.

I dislike the fact that it was listed as a hard cover, but that it was actually reissued as a board book. I like hard cover books with pages, not board books, so that was a little disappointing.

The book was also smaller than I would have liked. The impact of the illustrations, which are fantastic, is diminished by the more diminutive size of the book.

If I had it to do over again, I would look for an earlier version of the book, but this will still make a great gift!

The story is darling, and I'm hoping that he will enjoy it as much as I!

A story that is over 60 years old and still has relevance today. It has been one of my favorites since I first read it as a child over 30 years ago. Many things have changed over the years and new stories seem to replace the old. For this reason I always like to give this as a gift; in hopes that it may become some other child's favorite.