Blogging NPR: A Classic Children's Book Returns

It was 1939 when Hardie Gramatky was inspired by a little tugboat he saw in the East River. Gramatky was an illustrator who worked for Walt Disney Studios, and after a few watercolors of the tugboat, "Little Toot" was born.

A classic tale in the vein of "The Little Engine that Could," "Little Toot" is going to be reissued by Penguin Putnam in honor of what would have been the author's 100th birthday. All the rich colors of the earliest editions will also be restored. This is definitely one that will be on our shelf.

Comments (4)

Thanks for the tip. We'll definitely be adding this to our shelves, too. In a similar vein, my toddler is a huge fan of Virginia Lee Burton's anthropomorphized heavy equipment. So far, we've collected Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Maybelle the Cable Car, and Katy and the Big Snow. Sam loves the stories, I like that all the machines are female, and we all love the old-fashioned artwork.

posted by TammyE on November 2nd 2007 at 9:28am
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Always love your book recommendations doppelganger; keep 'em coming.

posted by mschatelaine on November 2nd 2007 at 12:58pm
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Yup, adding this one to my daughter's Amazon wishlist!

posted by tgray99 on November 3rd 2007 at 11:47am
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My son loves this book, pointing out all the little (and big) boats, copying Toot's expressions, it a real treasure!

posted by fly on November 4th 2007 at 5:07pm
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