Betty's Books: Mike Mulligan & The Story of Ping

Curious to see how my must-read picks stacked up, I checked in with McLean & Eakin, the online children’s bookseller. Generally we were in sync, with one exception, which I'll later fill you in on.

Before unveiling the books that made the list, I want to remind all of us grandparents how important it is to engage our grandchildren in reading, in storytelling with this 23-year-old advice, as true today as it ever was: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children… It is a practice that should continue throughout the grades.” (Commission on Reading’s 1985 report, Becoming a Nation of Readers).

What more wonderful “read-aloud” book to thumb through with your grandchild is there than Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, first published in the 40's. Written by Virginia Lee Burton, author of 1943 Caldecott Medal winner, The Little House, the story sheds light on the consequences of technology and cost of progress.

When Mike Mulligan and his faithful steam shovel, Mary Ann, are “downsized” by faster, more efficient gas, electric, and diesel machinery, Mike believes he and his best friend, Mary Ann, still have value. He proves it, against all odds, by digging the cellar for a new Town Hall in just one day. There's one problem, though — how to remove his beloved Mary Ann from the ditch. Much to the delight of any grandchild, a small boy finds the clever solution.

Mike Mulligan was my husband’s favorite childhood book. He swears to hearing the gears shift, smelling the dust being dug up, and seeing the exhaust cough up plumes of smoke as his grandfather read it to him. He became Mike.

When reading it to my three little granddaughters at Thanksgiving, it was Mary Ann who took center stage. “She could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week,” boasted Mike, and dig she did, winning the race against time. Not only is Mike Mulligan a before-its-time nod to women's “can-do” determination, it’s a story exemplifying the power of perseverance and value of hard work, for all genders.

The Story about Ping fascinated me as a child. I wondered what I would do in Ping's shoes — face up to my (very minor) punishment or, like Ping, avoid it and go it alone.

If you remember, Ping was a little duck who lived with his extended family (including 42 cousins) on a wise-eyed boat on China's Yangtze River. Each night, the last to board the boat was spanked on the backside. When Ping didn’t hear the boat master’s call one night, it was clear he'd be receiving a tap on the rear. So… he hid. After a series of misadventures — some of them scary — he learned that being safe with his family is better than being alone.

The Story About Ping can spark countless conversations between grandparent and grandchild: what happens when you run away from problems, how the world can be unfair and punishments unjust, and the oft hard-to-learn axiom that actions have consequences. What this book does best, though, is epitomize the magic of storytelling. Read it with enthusiasm and capture all of your grandchildren's attention. Guaranteed.

The last classic in this month's batch is for grandchildren ages 5-plus: Charlotte's Web. Spotting it on the McLean & Eakin list, I cringed. When I was a kid, the book didn't grab me. As a parent reading it to my children, I was bored by it. Rereading it this week didn’t change my mind. But mine is a minority opinion. E.B. White’s tale is considered one of the greatest children’s books ever written. When my oldest granddaughter recently read it with her dad, she gave it five stars. So with as much objectivity as I can muster, I include it here.

You begin the book thinking the 8-year-old girl Fern will be the heroine. Not quite. In a clever twist, it is Charlotte, the eight-legged spider who spins enchanting webs, who saves the day — and Wilbur the pig.

White brings the sights, sounds, and smells of a rural farm alive. His words deliver striking messages: “The crickets sang in the grasses... the song of summer’s ending, a sad, monotonous song… [they] felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.”

His language not only draws vivid pictures — of children slowly growing into adolescence: “They grabbed each other by the hand and danced off in the direction of the merry-go-round, toward the wonderful music… adventure… excitement... where there would be no parents to guard them and guide them...” — but gives each farm animal (even the gluttonous, sneaky rat, Templeton) a distinct personality readers can relate to.

My problem with the book? Wilbur — he's such a wimp! Even as a kid, his crying, whining, self-absorption, and fainting whenever he sniffed bad news disgusted me. I couldn’t blame Fern for being unfaithful and taking off with Henry Fussy. And Templeton, who had “no milk of rodent kindness,” was never an animal I'd snuggle up to.

Then there's Charlotte. Yes, it's hard to find fault with her unwavering friendship and steady endurance of life-and-death drama. Still — she's a spider.

Most readers will fall in love with the characters White chooses to weave the story of mortality and friendship.

Share my lack of enthusiasm for Charlotte’s Web? More importantly, what are YOUR top ten children’s classics? Use the comments area below to join in the conversation!