Make Way For Ducklings tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who are looking for a safe place to build a nest and raise their family. Their search leads them to Boston, where they quickly find out how dangerous the world can be with all the bicycles and cars not stopping for ducks. Luckily, they make some good friends who help them stay safe.
Who was Robert McCloskey?
After moving to New York City, McCloskey entered the National Academy of Design, now the National Academy Museum and School, and went on to win the President's Award. He held exhibits at the Tiffany Foundation and the Society of Independent Artists in Boston, but despite a strong start to his art career, he was unable to make a living. As a last resort, McCloskey went to a children's book editor.
After meeting with the editor, who told him "to get wise to myself and to shelve the dragons, Pegasus, and limpid pool business and learn how and what to 'art' with", McCloskey returned to Ohio in 1936 and wrote his first children's book, Lentil (Picture Puffin Books)
.Not long after Lentil was published, McCloskey returned to Boston. In a quote published on the back flap of Make Way For Ducklings, he "first noticed the ducks when walking through the Public Garden every morning on the way to Art School". After returning to Boston, he "noticed the traffic problem of the ducks and heard a few stories about them. Then the book just sort of developed from there."
McCloskey bought "four quaking mallards" and took them home to his apartment where he "spent the next weeks on my hands and knees, armed with a box of Kleenex and a sketchbook, following the ducks around the studio and observing them in the bathtub." He finished the illustrations first and he ended up rewriting the book over and over, changing bits and pieces before finally completing Make Way For Ducklings.
In total, McCloskey wrote and illustrated 8 books, including Blueberries for Sal (Viking Kestrel picture books)
, a Caldecott Honor book in 1949, and One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffins)
, a Caldecott Honor Book in 1953. He won a second Caldecott Medal as well, but that's a story for another blog post. He also illustrated 12 books for other authors.Robert McCloskey married Peggy Durand in 1940 and they had two daughters, Sally and Jane. In 2000, McCloskey was named a "Living Legend" by the U.S. Library of Congress. He died in 2003.
The Illustrations
Make Way For Ducklings begins with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard looking for a nice, safe place to build their nest and start a family. They found a small island in the pond at the Public Garden in Boston to stop for the night. The next morning, while looking for breakfast in the pond, a large swan boat full of people floated past and the people threw peanuts to the ducks.
Mr. and Mrs. Mallard liked the little pond and island, not to mention all the free peanuts, but just as they're about to decide to live there, they meet a new threat.
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| Doesn't the gentleman in the upper right illustration look like a young Richard Nixon? |
After that close call, the ducks decide to keep looking. As they fly over the city, the reader is given a bird's-eye view of Boston. They find a quiet island in the Charles River that is close to the Public Garden and the Mallards decided to build their nest there.
After landing on the island, Mr and Mrs. Mallard begin to molt, losing their old wing feathers, and they won't be able to fly again until the new ones grow in. They build a nest and settle into their new life. While exploring the riverbank near their island, the ducks meet a kind police officer named Michael who feeds them peanuts and the ducks return every day.
It doesn't take long for Mrs. Mallard to lay eight eggs in her nest and one day the ducklings hatch.
Mr. Mallard decides to head over to the Public Garden and tells his wife he will see her and their children in a week when they are to join him. During that week, Mrs. Mallard works hard with the ducklings, teaching them how to swim and dive, walk in a straight line, and avoid scooters and bicycles.
When the time comes to join Mr. Mallard, Mrs. Mallard leads her children across the river to the bank and toward the street, where they are nearly hit by a car on the busy road. Luckily, their friend, police officer Michael, sees their predicament and comes to their rescue. He stops traffic and allows the ducks to safely cross the road before rushing back to his police booth to call for backup.
Mrs. Mallard continues through the city past stores and people who stopped to compliment the proud mama on her well behaved children.
And when they reach the busy corner of Beacon Street, there are four policemen who answered Michael's call for assistance and they held traffic so Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings could safely cross the road and join Mr. Mallard in the Public Garden.
Seriously, what isn't there to love about Make Way For Ducklings? It's a sweet story told with appealing illustrations. And what person, no matter how old you are, doesn't stop when they see a mama duck and her babies crossing a street and think "Make way for ducklings!"
The city of Boston has enthusiastically embraced Make Way For Ducklings. On October 4, 1987, a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings was installed and is one of the most popular destinations for children in Boston.
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And every year on Mother's Day, Boston celebrates the Duckling Day Parade. Parents and children dress up as ducks to follow the route Mrs. Mallard and her children took from the Charles River to the Public Garden.
In 2003, Make Way For Ducklings was named the Official Children's Book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This is one of those rare stories that is so ingrained in our pop culture that no matter where you live, in a big city like Boston or in small rural town in the midwest, you always Make Way For Ducklings.
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