On September 15, 1914, American children’s author and illustrator Robert McCloskey was born in Hamilton, Ohio. Interested in art and mechanics from an early age, he studied at the Vesper George School of Art in Boston and the National Academy of Design in New York before becoming one of the most admired creators of twentieth-century American picture books.
McCloskey is best known for richly observed stories that find humor, warmth, and drama in ordinary family life and the natural world. He won two Caldecott Medals, children’s literature’s leading illustration honor: first for Make Way for Ducklings in 1942 and later for Time of Wonder in 1958.
His best-known book, Make Way for Ducklings, follows Mr. and Mrs. Mallard as they search for a safe place to raise their ducklings in Boston. Published in 1941, the book became an enduring classic. Massachusetts later named it the official children’s book of the Commonwealth, and sculptor Nancy Schön’s beloved bronze duckling statues in the Boston Public Garden brought its characters into the city’s landscape.
Through precise, expressive illustrations and a deep affection for places such as Boston and coastal Maine, McCloskey helped establish the picture book as a serious artistic form. His work continues to delight readers for its humor, observation, and affectionate portrait of everyday American life.
Image: The bronze duckling statues in the Boston Public Garden, inspired by Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
