Module 2: Make way for ducklings

Book Summary: The book is about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, the ducks that were looking for a place to live in the Boston area.  After trying several different places, they settle on the Charles River.  After their ducklings hatched and learned the basics of being a duck, the whole family returned to the Public Garden and settled on a small little island that they loved.

APA Reference of Book: McCloskey, R. (1941). Make way for ducklings. New York, NY: Viking Press.

Impressions:  I thought the book was cute.  I know it's an award winning book, but I don't know if I would agree.  The story was very simple, and I am not quite sure that I understand the point that the author was trying to make in the book.  I did enjoy reading about Boston, since I have been there before, I like all the real references that are in the book.  "So they flew over Beacon Hill and round the State House, but there was no place there.  They looked in Louisburg Square, but there was no water to swim in".   The book mentions many of the landmarks of Boston, and I love that when you do go to Boston, there is a sculpture of the ducklings and their momma.

Professional Review: In this Caldecott Medal-winning book, McCloskey uses hued lines and minimum shading to render key elements of the composition and keep us focused.  The white of the page becomes a backdrop of sky, water, or land, and vantage points change from page to page as the artist positions the viewer far away, up-close, in the air, and across the street. These changes in the viewpoint create dramatic compositions and affect how small or large things are drawn, how detailed something is, and what we see, such as the top of a building or the tire of a car.  In this scene, traffic stops and we look on in amazement as Mrs. Mallard and her eight babies are helped across a busy street. The smallness of the ducklings is emphasized as one of them hesitates before jumping off the curb. Their tiny size is further accentuated by being placed inches from the monster cars, whose grills and headlights appear to be looking on. McCloskey brought ducks home to live with him in bis New York studio so he could observe and make sketches of the way they moved and interacted. It was this preparation and familiarity with his subjects that allowed McCloskey to make the final drawings in lithographic crayon directly onto the zinc plates used for printing.

Erbach, M. M. (2006). Classic Caldecotts by Decade. (Book Review).

Book Links, 15(6), 16-20.

Library Uses: Great for a read aloud with the kiddos and their mommies.  While reading the book, the kids could demonstrate what the ducklings were doing and this would get them to move around and enjoy the story more.