Make way for ducklings

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"Make Way for Ducklings" is a picture book for children written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey and published in 1941 in the United States . The book tells the story of a mallard couple who decided to raise their family in a pond in the Boston Public Garden , a park in the middle of Boston , Massachusetts.

In 1942, Make Way for Ducklings won the Caldecott Medal , a prize awarded by the American Librarians' Association for children's books, for its illustrations. These Robert McCloskey illustrations were drawn in charcoal and then lithographed on zinc plates. By 2003 a total of over two million copies had been sold. Due to the popularity of the book, a statue of a mother duck with her eight chicks was erected in the Boston Public Garden, which is an attraction within the park. A comparable installation based on the plot of the book can also be found in Moscow's Novodewitschi Park. The book has also been named the Official Children's Book of Massachusetts.

Since the first edition, the book has been continuously in print in English-speaking countries and has also been published as a paperback and audio book. It was published in German in 1948 as the Schnack family and in 1967 as the street, the ducks are coming .

background

McCloskey was born in Ohio , but attended the Vesper George Art School in Boston from 1932 . After his attempts to establish himself as an artist in New York City failed, he published his first work "Lentil" in 1940. The Make Way for Ducklings following in 1941 was McCloskey's second release.

In his acceptance speech at the Caldecott Medal , McCloskey said that he first came up with ideas for the book while spending a lot of time feeding ducks in the Boston Public Garden. Inspired by May Massee, the first head of the children's book department at the US publisher Viking Press, he made a mural years later and then made a first draft of the book. To better illustrate the story, McCloskey spent some time at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, interviewed an ornithologist, and eventually returned with six ducklings who lived as models in his studio.

action

The famous swan boats on the large pond of Boston Public Gardens mistake the Mallards for real birds

The story begins with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard (English for "mallard") looking for a place to start their family and looking at a number of different places. Whenever Mr Mallard discovers a seemingly suitable place, Ms. Mallard has something to complain about. Tired of their search, the Mallards finally spend the night on the large pond of the Public Gardens. In the morning a pedal boat in the shape of a swan passes by , which they take for a real bird. Peanuts tossed over from the boat give the Mallards a second breakfast, so Ms. Mallard suggests building her nest inside the Public Garden. However, as soon as she has made the proposal, she is almost run over by a cyclist. The Mallards then continue their search in the Boston metropolitan area, examining well-known landmarks such as Beacon Hill , the Massachusetts State House and Louisburg Square for their suitability. Eventually they decide on an island in the Charles River . From the island they swim to the opposite bank every day, where a policeman named Michael feeds them every day.

Shortly thereafter, the Mallards moulting , which temporarily prevents them from flying. During this time, Ms. Mallard hatched eight chicks, which the Mallard couple named Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack. After these hatch, Mr. Mallard decides to take a trip upstream to find out what is there. The Mallards agree to meet again in the Public Garden a week later. In the meantime, Ms. Mallard teaches her chicks everything they need to know about duck life.

A week later she leads her chicks to the shore and from there directly to the highway. You have to cross this to get to the Public Garden. However, the vehicles do not stop, so the police officer Michael stops the traffic for them. He also ensures that traffic for the ducks is regulated along Ms. Mallard's route. The ducks first cross the highway, then the Embankment Road, walk along Mount Vernon to Charles Street and then finally south towards the park. When crossing Beacon Street - which leads to the entrance of the park - four police officers hold the traffic at the intersection so that the ducks can pass safely. In the Public Garden, Mr. Mallard waits for the rest of his family, who from then on will stay with them and live happily ever after.

Reactions

The book has received overwhelming praise in the sixty years since it was first published. When it was published in 1941, Ellen Bell of the New York Times called it “one of the merriest we have had in a long time” and praised both the downright comedic Aspect of the procession over Beacon Street as well as the “fine large pictures” (in German: “the excellent, large illustrations”), which at the same time concentrate on the essentials and are still drawn in great detail.

Action versus illustration

Recent critics consider the illustrations to be detrimental as they would weaken the storyline of the book. The "loosely constructed" story also offered no plausible explanations for why Mr. Mallard left the island in the Charles River or why the Mallards did not simply stay away from the cyclists in the Public Garden. McCloskey himself responded to this criticism by pointing out that he was primarily an artist who also wrote children's books and not the other way around. Critics also consider the parents' personality to be insufficiently characterized. They correspond to a stereotypical image of concerned parents and often showed the same, less meaningful facial expressions.

A few critics assume that children like this book mainly because the drawings show the sights of Boston from the perspective of a duck and each chick has its own personality. Robert McCloskey drew the individual chicks, how they are bored, asking questions, being sleepy, scratching or whispering behind the back of their siblings. Children would be able to identify with the chicks based on their own behavior. The two parents, on the other hand, would be portrayed as caring protectors and teachers.

Use of page breaks

Other critics point out McCloskey's use of page breaks, with which he controls the reading pace: the pages that contain only one sentence force the reader to turn the page quickly, creating the feeling of movement. This would be particularly true during the search for a suitable nesting site and the phase in which Ms. Mallard teaches the chicks the essential skills. McCloskey also uses the page break for moments of surprise. The Mallards believe they have found a suitable place on page eleven:

'Good,' said Mr. Mallard, delighted that at last Mrs. Mallard had found a place that suited her. 'But -' (p. 11)
"Good," said Mr. Mallard, delighted that Mrs. Mallard had finally found a place she liked. "But -"

The Mallards are then confronted on page 13 with a cyclist who almost runs over Ms. Mallard.

'Look out!' squawked Mrs. Mallard, all of a dither. 'You'll get run over!' (P. 13)
"Watch out!" Shrieked Mrs. Mallard, trembling all over, "you will be run over!"

The interrupted sentence structure forces a quick page change, which - in the opinion of the critics - increases the surprise on the next page.

Gender roles

Make Way for Ducklings was released in the 1940s. At this point in time, the women's movement had not yet drawn attention to the unequal representation of gender roles in children's books. Critics point out that children's books of the period often portrayed a male-dominated society. Make Way for Ducklings does not follow this trend . In contrast to other books of the time - such as What Girls Can Be , which stereotypes women as submissive, limited and weak - McCloskey presents Ms. Mallard as an independent, and not submissive, female personality. Because of her husband's outing, Mrs. Mallard had to raise her children alone. McCloskey shows her as a capable woman who does not depend on the support of a male person. For individual critics, this method of representation was the reason to describe the book as “pre-feminist”.

Cultural impact

The city of Boston - the setting for the book - has largely made the successful children's book its own: on October 4, 1987, a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard with her eight chicks was erected in the Boston Public Garden, where the Mallards finally settled. While the largest of the figures is only one meter high, the train of ducklings embedded in the cobblestone stretches eleven meters. The statue is a tribute to McCloskey's children's story "whose story [...] has made the Boston Public Garden familiar to children throughout the world." (German: "whose story brought the Boston Public Garden to children all over the world").

Since 1978 there has been a "Duckling Day Parade" in the city every spring - a parade on the day of the chick - in which children dress up as ducklings and walk the path of Ms. Mallard with their parents.

In 1955, Weston Woods drew a cartoon based on the book.

In 2000, high school students from Canton, Massachusetts suggested that Make Way for Ducklings be named the official Massachusetts state children's book . Their request was initially blocked by representatives from Springfield, who are a work by Springfielder Dr. Seuss wanted to see at this point. A compromise solved the problem with Dr. Seuss was declared the official children's book author and Make Way for Ducklings the official children's book.

An installation similar to the statue in the Boston Public Garden was erected in Moscow's Novodevichy Park on July 30, 1991 as part of the START treaty celebrations . The 12-meter-long statue was the Soviet president's wife Raisa Gorbachev of the reigning American First Lady Barbara Bush presented as a gift to the children of the Soviet Union. However, four of the chicks were stolen over time - the first disappeared in 1991 and three more in February 2000. The thieves cut off the statues by the legs, presumably in the hope of selling them as scrap metal. The ducks were replaced in September 2000 during a rededication ceremony in the presence of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Robert McCloskey: Make Way For Ducklings . The Viking Press, New York 1961, ISBN 0-670-45149-5 .
  2. ^ A b c d Robert McCloskey: Dictionary of Literary Biography . Ed .: John Cech. Volume 22: American Writers for Children, 1900-1960. Gale Research, 1983, pp. 259-266 .
  3. ↑ Peter Anderson: After a half-century, families still make way for ducklings . The Boston Globe , April 27, 1991, pp. METRO / REGION 1 .
  4. ^ Colette Bancroft: A master who made it look easy . St. Petersburg Times , July 6, 2003.
  5. ^ A b Nancy Schön: Make Way for Ducklings . Boston
  6. ↑ Chapter 2, Section 49. The General Laws of Massachusetts
  7. ↑ Elizabeth Kennedy: Maine Caldecott Winners by Robert McCloskey . about.com
  8. ↑ Ellen Lewis Buell: Make Way For Ducklings . New York Times , October 19, 1941, pp. BR10 .
  9. ↑ Lenore J. Weitzman, Deborah Eifler, Elizabeth Hokada, Catherine Ross: Sex-Role Socialization in Picture Books for Preschool Children . In: The American Journal of Sociology . tape 77 , no. 6 , May 1972, p. 1125-1150 .
  10. ↑ Roger Clark, Jessica Guilmain, Paul Khalil Saucier, Jocelyn Tavarez: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: The Presence of Female Characters and Gender Stereotyping in Award-Winning Picture Books Between the 1930s and the 1960s . In: Sex Roles . tape 49 , no. 9 , November 2003, p. 439-449 .
  11. ↑ Natalie Babbitt: "Make Way for Ducklings" (Book Review) . In: The Horn Book Magazine . November – December, 2000, pp. 648 ( epnet.com ).
  12. ^ Ross Atkins: Make Way for a Classic . In: Christian Science Monitor . May 10, 1991.
  13. ↑ Spring: Make Way For Ducklings . ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Boston Online @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.boston-online.com
  14. ↑ Tom Benner: A ducky day for young lawmakers . In: The Patriot Ledger . June 24, 2003.
  15. ↑ Nancy Schön: Make Way for Ducklings . Moscow
  16. ↑ Stolen duck statues restored in Moscow . CNN.com, September 18, 2000