Virginia Lee Burton Children’s Literature Collection

Virginia Lee Burton’s enduring words, characters, and illustrations have captured the imagination of young readers since the publication of her first book ‘Choo-Choo’ (the story of a runaway train engine) in 1937. This LEGO Ideas proposal brings together characters from three of Burton’s now-classic stories: 

1. ‘Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel’ (1939) tells the story of Mike Mulligan and his trusty, red steam shovel Mary Anne as they race to finish digging the cellar for Popperville’s new town hall in just one day, and prove to the townsfolk that they still belong in a world where electric shovels and diesel shovels have started taking over all the construction jobs. 

2. ‘The Little House’ (1942) recounts the happy days of a little house in the country, and as seasons pass the house wonders about what life might be like in the big city, until urban sprawl brings city-life to the house’s doorstep. Burton was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal for ‘The Little House’ in 1943. 

3. ‘Katy and the Big Snow’ (1943) follows Katy the determined tractor-turned-snowplow as she responds to different emergency calls during an unprecedented blizzard and digs out the inhabitants of Geoppolis. 

The set includes minifigures of Virginia Lee Burton (author and illustrator), Mike Mulligan, and the little boy from ‘Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel'.