The Diggers

The Diggers

Dig, dig, dig! Join the animals and machines as they dig an incredible journey of discovery underground in this imaginative story from best-selling children's author Margaret Wise Brown. This amazing adventure is brought to life by French illustrator Antoine Corbineau, using a patchwork of texture and color in his vibrant illustrations to bring the fun and energetic world of the diggers to life.

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. Even though she died over 45 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper. Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.

At first glance, "The Diggers" looks like it could just be a book for boys. Of course, boys love anything about heavy equipment and digging in the dirt. We only have little girls in our family, so I wondered how this book would go over. Well, they loved it. 

The story might remind older readers of a book like "The Little Engine That Could." The colorful artwork helps young eyes follow the story, enjoy the fantasy ride, and learn to never give up.

This book provided by the publisher, at no cost, for my honest review. Max Elliot Anderson https://middlegradeadventureandmystery.blogspot.com