TITLE: Make Way for DucklingsAUTHOR: Robert McCloskey
STARTED: May 23, 2009
FINISHED: May 23, 2009
PAGES: 68
GENRE: Juvenile
FIRST SENTENCE: Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] The busy Boston streets are too dangerous for eight little ducklings! But with a little help from a friendly policeman Mrs. Mallard and her family arrive safely at their new home. The public garden was no place for ducklings when they were first born, but now they are old enough to brave the raucous crowds and swim with the giant swan boats. Available for the first time in a full-size paperback edition, this Caldecott winning classic continues to delight generations of children
THOUGHTS: I love this book so much that when The Boyfriend went to a Moot Court competition in Boston I told him he had to go to the park and see the Make Way for Duckling statues. He sent me a picture of his visit and I it made me giddy. When I enrolled in my Media for Children class, I just knew I would have to find a way to fit this book in. Score one for me.
As a child, I loved this book because of the illustrations... and because I lived near Boston. I loved how the line-drawings were so realistic. I could actually see Mrs. Mallard and her line babies waddling down the street. The author did a fantastic job of capturing the feel of Boston in the various seasons while managing to show very little of the actual city. Also, the plump and round characters in the pictures appealed to my sense of cuteness.
The story was just as cute. The book does retain certain gender stereotypes (Mr. Mallard decides to go exploring, leaving the wife and kids at home - slacker), but I can overlook that because the feeling of love, family, and helpfulness is so pervasive. Whenever I went to the park as a kid, I always expected cars to stop and wait for a duck family to pass.
All of this remains true today. Make Way for Ducklings is a classic children's picture book that I will always cherish.
RATING: 9/10 [Excellent!]
Comments