Summary
This book follows the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, a pair of ducks looking for a new home in Boston. They pass up a number of options until they land on a small island in a Boston park. They like the peaceful lake and the peanuts that passersby feed them, but Mrs. Mallard still sees drawbacks for their potential children. The ducks keep looking until they find the perfect place to rest. They have ducklings and begin to teach them how to make their way in the world. When the ducklings have grown large enough to travel, the Mallard family decided to return to the park. The city of Boston comes to a halt, with police officers blocking roadways so that the ducks can travel safely. Finally, they reach the park and settle there permanently.
My impressions
Make Way for Ducklings is an enjoyable classic picture book. Younger readers will enjoy the detailed pictures; I spent as much time looking over the pictures as I did reading the story. Older readers will appreciate the story and the dialogue between the ducks. McCloskey has made the book fun to read, with duck sounds and silly duck names thrown in for variety.
Reviews
This book was awarded the Caldecott medal in 1942 because of the quality of the book and its pictures. Modern reviewers of the School Library Journal agree, voting it in the top ten of their list of the top 100 picture books. Readers love the pictures as well as the story, and generations of children have been raised with this book.
Use in a library
A fun idea to incorporate the auditory and visual aspects of this book in a library program would be to have readers act it out. Kids could make the quack noises and play with character voices. They could even make paper sets of some of the book settings. This would be a great way to engage kids.
References
Bird, E. (2012). Top 100 picture books #6: Make way for ducklings. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/06/20/top-100-picture-books-6-make-way-for-ducklings-by-robert-mccloskey.
McCloskey, R. (1966). Make way for ducklings. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
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