Review: The Lonely Digger

The Lonely Digger by Margaret Merry
Genre: Children’s Literature/fiction

This book was really cute. (I, as an 18 year old, thought it was sweet.) The story of The Lonely Digger is about a digger named Lola, who breaks down and becomes useless to her master. He gets rid of her and leaves her to rust all my her lonely self. whenever an animal in need comes by, she offers protection and shelter to it. whether it be a lost deer or piglets who won’t stay still for a split second, or a rare lynx needing a hiding spot or an exhausted runaway wolf, she lets them stay hidden and safe in her machinery. but they always leave the next day, and Lola is very very lonely. finally, about a year after Lola’s abandonment, a lonely boy who just moved to the area and who has no friends finds the digger, and diggers happen to be his passion. he and his dad and his friends repaint Lola, the neighborhood children come to play on her, the little boy makes friends, and Lola is never lonely again.

I loved the illustrations in this book. they were beautiful watercolor paintings of diggers and animals. my favorite was the one with the little deer sitting in the old digger—the machinery was rusted, the dear looked all soft and scared, and the  trees around were beautiful.

the characters were very cute, too. kids love talking animals, it brings them to life and gives them reliability. the character of the animal matched the animal, too. (i.e. the lynx was proud, and sounded proud in the text. the deer looked scared, and sounded scared etc.) 

the story was engaging and warm, and a parent would enjoy this book just as much as a child.

I would recommend this book to ages 4-8, and to any child who likes machinery or animals.

~Haleyknitz