Saturday, May 27, 2006

Make Way for Ducklings

My Black & White Print from 2002



Make Way for Ducklings is an award-winning children’s picture book by Robert McCloskey about a pair of mallard ducks that decide to raise their family in Boston Public Garden. It is a very well known book. Everybody in Boston knows about it. The story also features a policeman who stops traffic on the busy Beacon Street to let Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their eight ducklings named Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack cross the street. Last year I read the book myself. The pictures were drawn extremely lovely, and the story is forever cute.

People love this story so much that in 1987 a sculpture by Nancy Schön of Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings was installed in Boston Public Garden. Since then children come to hug and kiss and climb the ducks all the time that the ducks’ heads are all shining and smooth.

One Young Rider (2003)

This story also happens in real life in Boston. The hotspot is BU Bridge at Memorial Drive in Cambridge. This week I stopped on green in two days to let some duck families to cross the road. All the other drivers involved in this were as patient as me, and we didn't need a policeman to direct the traffic. I felt lucky to see the ducks crossing again.

These pictures were taken in February 2004. Hands were shaking. Focus was soft. It was an old camera.



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the first picture ( Mother duck & ducklings) very much

allegro said...

Thank you! It was a cloudy afternoon in the fall when I took the picture on a black-and-white film. I had to wait a while for the kids to have their time on the ducks.

如果你带元一来波士顿,我带你们去看小鸭子,坐鸭子船!

Anonymous said...

great! Just wait a few years more :)

Anonymous said...

Sophia loves the book you bought for her during our last visit in Boston. -YJ

allegro said...

If it were not because I bought the book as a gift for Sophia, I would not have read it yet. I really love that book, too. I guess it has the appeal to children of all ages, from 1 to 100.

Anonymous said...

what book?

allegro said...

It's the book by Robert McCloskey named "Make Way for Ducklings". The pictures were drawing with a pencil. They've got the most fluent lines I've ever seen of a pencil drawing.