Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

Ramona’s not the only one calling aspects of Mike Mulligan into question anymore. Kate and I already tackled Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House, so now we cover another book tackling the fast moving world and how it can lead to obsolescence. A tale of “a man obsessed with his steam shovel,” muffs, dabbing, how precisely a steam shovel would work, and the weird placement of the acknowledgement to Dickie Birkinbush, mid-book.

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As I mentioned, Kate and I made a Randolph Caldecott music video about 10 years ago. That second pair of heels? That’s Kate:

And here is Kate’s Kei$ha video. She’s one of the mohawked ladies walking behind the singer lady:

“That’s my Monday.”

Here is Big Machines: The Story of Virginia Lee Burton by Sherri Duskey Rinker, ill. John Rocco, which we mention a couple times

“Why I oughtta . . .!”

Whose choice was it to make the font quite that big? I love the idea that someone in the process thought an openly weeping Mary Anne was a bit unclear.

Naturally, both of my children knew what dabbing was. So let’s do a compare and contrast of my kids (my FOUR-YEAR-OLD knew what it was!!!) with Mike Mulligan. Dabbing their hearts away. Here is Mike…

Here are my kids …

On the left, a lady with a muff. On the right, Mike’s wearing a short-sleeved shift. Any idea why she is be-muffed?

Kate looked up what a “selectman” is. It is, “a member of the local government board of a New England town.” Who knew?

It’s the RETURN OF THE SASSY SUN from The Little House!!! Kate’s previous tattoo has come back to greet her.

The first time I have certainly ever seen a book stop dead in its tracks to acknowledge someone.

And finally, here, you can see “Jinnee” doing a dance move.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate