Maybelle the Cable Car

by Virginia Lee Burton

By recounting actual events in San Francisco's effort to keep the city's cable cars running, this classic story illustrates how the voice of the people can be heard in the true spirit of democracy.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Transport, Classics, Geography

42 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Virginia Lee Burton was an American illustrator and children's book author. Burton produced seven self-illustrated children's books. She married Boston Museum school sculptor, George Demetrios, with whom she had two sons and lived in Folly Cove, Gloucester. She died at 59.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have ridden in Maybelle the cable car before. I'm so glad the city voted to keep her as that was still a fun experience. This book is about the history of the cable cars of San Francisco. They almost got rid of them, but a historic vote kept them for everyone to experience. They are a symbol of San Francisco. It's a cute little story Virginia tells. She animates the cable cars and buses.

The art brings the little trolleys to life.

The nephew read this book with me. He thought it was a ok book. He is more into robots he said. He gave it 2 stars.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of detail for the little ones to pore over, and an excellent lesson in the power of the people for older children. Lively pictures, too. Anyone interested in SF will especially enjoy it, I'm sure. I rounded up from 3.5 stars because I support more environmentally sound forms of transportation, as cable cars are compared to buses....

A lovely read that I recommend.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably would have given this book three stars if it weren't for the nostalgic appeal. Burton wrote "Katy and the Big Snow" and "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" and "The Little House" which I doted on as a kid. Also, I have a soft spot for San Francisco in the 19-teens as I love that era in history and my grandpa was a boy there then. This story is cute and a good little history lesson, though nothing especially splendid. I didn't realize that in the late 1940s the cable cars were almost stripped from San Francisco and it took petitions and ballot measures by the citizens and fans of San Fran near and far to keep these symbols of the city in operation. (It's especially interesting to read this now since when the book was written in 1952 the events were still quite recent!)

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as Burton's other books because it gets a bit too detailed and historical.

[Elevetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming picture book telling the story of the San Franciscan cable cars and how they were saved from disappearance by some loyal San Franciscans who recognized what a loss these historical cars would be. The pictures are cute and just right for the story, and the story is told an informative yet fun way.

[J. Boo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose I'd love this if I was an inhabitant of San Francisco, but I'm not, so I don't. Rather dull for this outsider.

DS #1 (age 5) & DD (age 3) were too restless for me to finish more than a couple of pages.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful story of the cable cars in San Francisco and the fight to save them. Wonderful illustrations and the story is engagingly told. Recommended!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun tribute to the cable cars of San Francisco. I don't know that I'd ever paid much attention to them before, like how they worked, how they were different from trolleys and busses, etc. My son enjoyed learning a bit about them and the fight to save the cable cars when progress and innovation was ready to move on and leave them behind.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is based on a true story of San Francisco's fight to save its cable cars. It also has a forward with a small list of more books to read for information on cable cars. My main disappointment was that parts were in rhyme and would have a good rhythm just to be interrupted by non rhymes. Overall, a sweet book about how antiquated things are still important and useful.

[Terri Shown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I personally feel is Virginia Lee Burton’s best Illustrated book that I have seen so far. I love how she incorporated a repeating swirl through out the book. My 3 year old train/machine loving boy LOVES book. I read this book several times a week. I love how Virginia really was able to create stories that appeal to both a child and an adult.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know what this story was about when I picked it up after Katy and the Big Snow. I was surprised and delighted that it turned out to be an age-appropriate introduction to initiative petitions. 😄

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Virginia Lee Burton's books, so I immediately picked this one up while looking for car books for my son. It is based off the true story of how the city of San Francisco banded together to save the cable cars, despite the city fathers wanting to get rid of them in the name of progress. Maybelle, as the title suggests, is one of the old cable cars that is thankfully spared the chopping block and her and her fellow cable cars are allowed to run up and down the hilly city. She eventually becomes friends with Big Bill, one of the new modern buses, who originally thought of her as old-fashioned and as competition. The book also tells in detail how the cable cars work, so I'm sure kids will be pretending to drive one of these while reading or listening to the story. Recommended for ages 5-9, 3 stars.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2.75yo loves anything with wheels, but I was a little surprised how much he enjoyed this story, since he's never seen a cable car before. Burton obviously wrote and drew this story with love for her subject. My favorite aspect of the artwork is that the vehicles have personality and feelings, but they're not heavily anthropomorphic, unlike, say, Tonka's Chuck the Truck: Maybelle has a very subtle droop to her lines after hearing some sad news; Big Bill the Bus doesn't have "eyes" in his windshield, but the angle of his wipers make them look like squinting brows when he says something mean. I can't sight-read music, so I wondered about the couple of measures of music (supposedly the tune of Maybelle's gong) in one of the margins; once I played it, I was delighted that the tune was "Shave and a Haircut," which would amuse me if I heard it now and then when taking public transit.

[Jackie B. - Death by Tsundoku · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how Virginia Lee Burton is constantly surprising me with real information.

Maybelle tells the story of how San Francisco was going to shut down their cable cars, and the citizens voted to save them. It was an unexpected twist for me, since I didn't expect it to be based on a true story. In Burton's typical style she does a great job providing personality to the vehicles in question. In this book, we meet both Maybelle (and learn all the sweet things about how a cable car actually works) and a modern bus. These characters, as well as the humans in their world, describe the reasons for having cable cars to this day.

I learned a surprising amount from this book, and I look forward to even more surprises like this.

Keep 'em coming, Virginia.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Burton's illustrations are so adorable - I've found this to be true with all of her books so far. The story, though cute, I found to be more historical (and slightly pushy regarding how 'new' isn't always better) than her other books, so it might not be enjoyed by the younger kiddos. Basically, it's the telling of how cable cars are still used in San Francisco.

Ages: 4 - 8

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[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read this story with my daughter, she wasn't that interested. I really like Virginia Burton's books because of how much detail they have in the illustrations. With my daughter, we just read the story and didn't linger. But I read the book with my son yesterday and he was pointing at all the 'extra' text and wanted to know what everything said and really seemed to enjoy it. I like that its historical and that it teaches how voting works.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybelle the cable car is a cute enough book about the long history of San Francisco's cable cars but I think the majority of it was lost on my 3 year old who has never been to California and has never seen a cable car. The book also talks quite a bit about legislative process: petitions, polls, voting, etc. The subject matter doesn't seem to match up with the intended audience but maybe that's just me.

[Joelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love Virginia Lee Burton's books so much and this was no exception. This is the true story about how the citizens of San Francisco saved the city's cable cars from retirement. It's beautifully illustrated and well-written - a wonderful story about the power of the people to make their voices heard.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I don't particularly like this this story my son LOVES it. The pictures entice him despite the length of the story. As soon as we finished reading the book, he picked it up by himself and began creating his own story based on the pictures. Adorable. So I guess we can give it a thumbs up based on his love for the book.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This week I have read a treasury that contains 4 of Burton's stories. This is definitely my favorite. I do not have any real interest in cars or steam shovels or snow plows. But I do love San Francisco and really enjoyed this historical story of how the citizens had to work to protect the cable cars. It was the history, especially, that I enjoyed.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some stories probably hold up better over time. I borrowed this from the library because I loved her artwork in Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, but this artwork wasn't nearly as beautiful to me. Making matters worse, Big Bill, the yellow bully bus turned green in the middle of the story for no reason.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

August 2017 - Ben's fascinated by cable cars and trolleys and things of that sort, but I think he would have enjoyed it even more with slightly larger, clearer diagrams of how it all works - those illustrations were disappointingly tiny. Fun to read aloud, on the long side, and for a bonus it shows kids how democracy and political activism work.

[Hayes Read-Alouds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very beautifully illustrated book with a cute story that incorporates the history of cable cars in San Francisco and how the people fought to preserve them when technological advances in transportation threatened cable cars to become obsolete. We enjoyed this book for the story and the beautiful artwork and we especially love that we learned so many things along the way.

[Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay...definitely not as great as some of her other books. My son is a HUGE fan of Mike Mulligan and Choo Choo so we have been checking all her other books out of the library each week. This one is cute, just not as cute. Also, I think my son didn't really get the whole moral of the story.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is one of the best books about the city i've ever read.
great description of howcable cars work. it is also a perfect use of graphics, story and art. this is an eary example of of graphic non-fiction.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking back at this book recently as a potential present to a dear friend's child, I realize this may have been the first step down my career path in historic preservation. Thank you, Ms. Burton, even if I'm realizing it 20+ years late.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a GREAT look at the San Fransisco cable cars. We LOVED this book!

[Mandy E · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really loved this story as one of tender conservation, but there was a little too much information going on to hold the interest of the kids, even with my voices, noises and faces.

[Amanda Davenport · Rating 3 out of 5]

very cute

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

47 months - a fairly wordy book recounting how the San Francisco trolleys were saved. Probably not an everyday read but we enjoyed it from the library.