Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Board Book (Read Along Book & CD)

I hate to give this such a low rating, but before you buy the board book edition you need to know that it isn't just shortened, but the whole plot is gone.

Yes Henry B Swap is mentioned, but no mention of a challenge to dig the cellar in one day, or he won't get paid.

No sun high in the sky and being halfway done.

No Henry B Swap saying that since the steam shovel can't get out they don't get paid.

No ending where Henry B. Swap sits in the cellar and smiles in a way that's not mean at all.

If you want the great story, DON'T BUY THE BOARD BOOK!

I am so sad to say that this edition has been cut and bowdlerized. Do not purchase. It leaves half the story out and it is the half of the story that builds suspense. Mike agrees to dig the cellar in one day or not get paid. This part is extremely important. Yet, it has been cut completely out of the book! Several other sentences and whole pages were cut as well. And the "redemption" of the greedy selectman, Henry B. Swap, has also been cut. Sadly, I bought it in the fall, but since my child had so many new books for birthday and Christmas we are just getting to it now, or else I would $6 back.

I am a huge Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel book. I remember it as a child, raised all my children reading it and now on a grandchild. After he destroyed the hardback I thought I'd be smart and order the board book. GUESS WHAT! THE BOARD BOOKS HAVE BEEN EDITED!!! Much of the rhythm of this wonderful children's book has been removed! UGH! I've contacted the publisher hoping it was just an error in printing. Nope, that's the way they've formatted it. I'm returning because it's not the true Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann book.

As stated elsewhere, the original edition of this book is fantastic, as are most of VLB's works.
However, this board book edition is awful.

I am getting so sick of board books; they often don't include the full text, and I'm starting to realize the omissions are not harmless.

By now we're all used to the politically-correct updating that's been done to so many classic books, especially for children.
So the fact that the reference to Mike Mulligan "smoking his pipe" has been deleted from the last page of the book is annoying, but expected.
But I don't expect them to remove all the dramatic tension.

In the original story, Mike makes a deal with the Popperville selectmen that if he can't finish the cellar in one day, he'll forfeit his fee.
Gutsy move! This guy's got spunk!
Then, when he forgets to "leave a way out", Henry B. Swap tries to get out of paying Mike by saying the cellar is not done b/c the steam shovel is still in it.
The little boy's idea to leave Mary Ann in the cellar as the furnace means the cellar is, in fact, officially finished.
This is a major plot point because it enables Mike to get paid.

This pathetic rendering leaves out that entire aspect of the story, so the only reason to care whether Mike can finish the cellar in just one day is curiosity.
And it reduces the steam-shovel-made-furnace idea to a bizarre segue to a bizarre ending.

Please, for the sake of maintaining our great heritage of classic children's books, do not buy this horrible, insulting board book.

The original is a great book by one of the foremost writer/illustrator/designers of children's books. When I went to stay with my three-month old grandson, I was delighted that my daughter had provided him with a board-book edition, but when I started to read it to him, I was appalled at the omissions of plot, language, and character. I checked the copyright statement and found no acknowledgment of this abridgement. I think that any copyright holder who attempts to pass off an abridgement as the original should be stripped of the copyright.

It pains me greatly to give this book such a low review - but the board book deserves one star as much as the original version deserves five stars!

I am deeply disappointed in the board book version of "Mike Mulligan". I adore this book from my own childhood, and now my son (almost 2 years old) is in a "Mike Mulligan" phase. We got him the board book version so he would have a version he could read by himself without ripping the pages (he's still learning to be gentle with "nice" - i.e. hardcover - books). I now strongly regret having not flipped through the book to make sure it was the full version - it seemed thick enough to be the whole story. But it's not. My husband and I (and likely my son although he can't tell us so) have the book all but completely memorized - so we immediately realized that the board book is an anemic version of the original. Henry B. Swap's "smiling in a rather mean way", the fact that Mike won't get paid if he doesn't dig the whole cellar in one day, all the places Mike and Mary Anne had dug before (such as the trains - a big favorite with my son), and more have all been edited out. It makes the story so much less rich. It's just not the story we all fell in love with. I am so disappointed that this version is even out there, much less labeled in a misleading way that doesn't call it what it is - an abridged version that is nowhere near as wonderful as the original. DO NOT BUY THE BOARD BOOK VERSION!

I bought this as a gift for my 2yo son and was unhappy to discover that the story has been significantly abridged. The plot is there, but much of the charm is gone. Very disappointing.

The Board Book does not include the complete story!! It is a truncated version with all of the most meaningful sections removed. Compare the first page of new book to the original next to it. The other 2 pictures are just some of the other missing parts of this wonderful story
I can not believe the publishers allow this. It is a horrendous butchery of an excellent children's book.
Do not purchase this version. Check to make sure any book you purchase has the first page as depicted in the photo, and if possible, the other pages depicted.

I bought this book to read to my daughter. Mainly due to the fact that I remembered it so fondly from my own childhood! I had to pass on the tradition!

After reading it the first time I though it was a bit different but it has been 27+ years since I read it last that I couldn't put my finger on it. Thankfully my mom didn't know that I had purchased it. She found one of the old print versions of it in hard back with paper pages. There is SOO much this version I am reviewing is missing! At least half of the print is gone! They gutted this story! I am very disappointed. The older one is much better.

The worst part they removed was the part about Henry B. Swap being a kind of mean individual. This was very important to the story as he grew during the story. He started as a man who wanted to take advantage of Mike, and by the end of the story he was clearly a fast friend of Mike.

I am now going to call my mom and thank her for finding the older print version for me.

It's hard to find quality board books. They always have a "new twist," or are abridged, or dumbed down, or whatever. This is great. So far I love Virginia Burton's board books. They seem to be full length (the longest board books we own). They are very high quality (my 8 month old hasn't been able to chew any part of it off), and with really meaningful stories. I own this and the Little House, and I absolutely love the interplay between city and country life, the love of progress, but also the drawbacks. The illustrations are also complex and interesting to look at the details. Since it's longer, I usually read this one to him when we have a little more time, or he isn't over tired. It's at his attention limit for now, which is just what I want. I plan on getting all her books, highly recommend.