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The Steamroller: A Fantasy
Originally a story included in the book The Fish With The Deep Sea Smile (1938).
32 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1938
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Wise Brown
403 books1,263 followersMargaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 22, 2022
Read in the collection The Fish with the Deep Sea Smile: Stories and Poems for Reading to Young Children on openlibrary. Truly bizarre, if read literally. But then, we always laughed at the little old lady who swallowed a fly and then progressively larger animals... it's a certain kind of humor that kids like and only a few adults can share. And of course it's metaphor etc., too.
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Finally was available on OpenLibrary as itself, so I was able to enjoy the beautiful art and the focused themes. A child's imagination is an amazing thing! And Brown was childless, so she didn't have to worry about whether a book was 'good for' children, but rather she could open up their brains and find their secret fears & dreams.
Many young kids today will love this. If they're into monsters, or superheroes, or monster trucks, give them a chance to read it.
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Finally was available on OpenLibrary as itself, so I was able to enjoy the beautiful art and the focused themes. A child's imagination is an amazing thing! And Brown was childless, so she didn't have to worry about whether a book was 'good for' children, but rather she could open up their brains and find their secret fears & dreams.
Many young kids today will love this. If they're into monsters, or superheroes, or monster trucks, give them a chance to read it.
June 4, 2021
I really liked it. How have I never read it? It is so weird. This book makes me happy because it reminds me of of my childhood, not because I read it as a child. It's just how books and things were in back them weird and whimsical and not over thought. No one worried that a kid would somehow get in a steamroller and roll a bunch of things down. I don't see this getting published today. It's really zaney.
May 16, 2016
I remember reading this book to my foster son. My husband said it was his favorite book when he was a kid. It totally cracks me up. Too funny.
March 7, 2017
A bit of an absurd, non-traditional Christmas tale, but good fun overall. Perfect for girls who like engines and cogs and mechanics and vroom-vroom machines.
November 2, 2017
This does not age well.
December 6, 2016
Many, many readers of children's books know Good Night, Moon or The Runaway Bunny, but her lesser known...masterpiece of a book my grandma had at her house that I eventually inherited is The Steamroller. Like her other books, it's a little sci-fi/fantasy and more creepy (could be classified as horror, actually) than her other books (I think her books are a little creepy). The protagonist's parents give her a full-size steamroller for Christmas, and as one might expect, zaniness ensues. When I rediscovered this book recently, I was again struck by the ... sheer absurd weirdness of it all.
October 12, 2023
No doubt some kids, probably most, will like it - squashing flat animals, policeman and your teacher... and then scooping them up and they are perfectly fine.
A little shocking for some, but judging by comments - terribly funny for some. I'm somewhere in the middle.
The illustrations were ok. In my edition, they were done by Evaline Ness, so they look nothing like the ones in Little Golden book.
I found this book tedious to read, so much repetition...
Good for girls who like machines.
A little shocking for some, but judging by comments - terribly funny for some. I'm somewhere in the middle.
The illustrations were ok. In my edition, they were done by Evaline Ness, so they look nothing like the ones in Little Golden book.
I found this book tedious to read, so much repetition...
Good for girls who like machines.
February 15, 2026
Inspired Silliness
This is easily the most ridiculous Little Golden Book ever. The story is just bizarre and the illustrations are surprisingly cute for such a weird story. This one will knock you flat.
This is easily the most ridiculous Little Golden Book ever. The story is just bizarre and the illustrations are surprisingly cute for such a weird story. This one will knock you flat.
March 28, 2018
this book kind of made me wonder.. in a kids mind, they do not understand the basics of rolling over people, and this book, in a funny way, is saying it's ok to run over people. lol. it was cute
December 1, 2019
I thought it was weird, but my six-year-old twins both said they liked it.
picture-books-read
September 30, 2021Bizarro
December 31, 2022
WTF?! :O
I.... I have no words.
It's like a recurrent nightmare a deeply disturbed person might offload on their shrink.
Weirdest "Christmas" book ever.
I.... I have no words.
It's like a recurrent nightmare a deeply disturbed person might offload on their shrink.
Weirdest "Christmas" book ever.
July 10, 2022
I might have slept through some of this one...
Read
January 15, 2018What a wild ride.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews