Robert McCloskey

John Robert McCloskey(September 15, 1914– June 30, 2003) was anAmericanwriter and illustrator ofchildren's books. He both wrote and illustrated eightpicture books,and won twoCaldecott Medalsfrom theAmerican Library Associationfor the year's best-illustrated picture book.Four of the eight books were set inMaine:Blueberries for Sal,One Morning in Maine,Time of Wonder, andBurt Dow, Deep-water Man(the last three of those four were all set on the coast). His best-known work isMake Way For Ducklings, set in Boston. In longer works, he both wrote and illustratedHomer Priceand he illustratedKeith Robertson'sHenry Reedseries.
McCloskey was born inHamilton, Ohio, on September 15, 1914 to Howard and Mabel McCloskey. He had two sisters, Melba and Dorothy.As a teen, McCloskey was a camper-turned-counselor atCamp Campbell Gard, where at age 16 he carved a totem pole which stood at the camp for over 50 years.His work on the totem pole is said to have led to him being chosen to create the bas relief and cast aluminum pieces decorating the Hamilton Municipal building in 1934, when he was 19.
He reached Boston in 1932 with a scholarship to study atVesper George Art School. After Vesper George, he moved to New York City for study at theNational Academy of Design.
In 1940, he married Peggy Durand, daughter of the children's writerRuth Sawyer.They had two daughters, Sarah and Jane, and settled inNew York State, spending summers on Scott Island, a small island offLittle Deer IsleinEast Penobscot Bay.McCloskey's wife and elder daughter Sarah are the models for little Sal and her mother inBlueberries for Sal(1948), a picture book set on a "Blueberry Hill" in the vicinity. Three others of his picture books are set on the coast and concern the sea.
Peggy died in 1991. Twelve years later on June 30, 2003, McCloskey died inDeer Isle, Maine.
McCloskey won the 1942Caldecott MedalforMake Way for Ducklings. The story, set inBoston, Massachusetts, features amallardpair that nests on an island in theCharles River. After raising eight ducklings on the island, the mother leads them to thePublic Gardendowntown.  A friendly policeman stops traffic to let them cross a busy street. The story soon became a Boston institution. SculptorNancy Schöncreated a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings in 1987, installed along a walkway between pond and street.There thousands of children climb them every year and many more people photograph them; the park is also the annual site of aMake Way for DucklingsMother's Dayparade, featuring hundreds of children dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters. Since 2003Make Way for Ducklingsis the official children's book of Massachusetts.
McCloskey won a second Caldecott Medal in 1958 forTime of Wonder. Meanwhile, he had been a runner-up in 1949 forBlueberries for Sal, in 1953 forOne Morning in Maine, and in 1954 forJourneyCake, Ho!, the latter written by his mother-in-law Sawyer.In a 1958 magazine article titled "Bob McCloskey, Inventor", another Medal winner Marc Simont observed that "[his] talent for devising mechanical contraptions is topped only by his ability to turn out books that carry off the Caldecott Medal."
TheHomer Pricestories (two books) were translated intoRussianin the 1970s and became popular in theSoviet Union.
The U.S.Library of Congressnamed McCloskey a "Living Legend" in 2000.
One chapter fromHomer Pricewasadaptedas a short film,The Doughnuts(1963).The same chapter was adapted for anABC Weekend Specialcalled "Homer and the Wacky Doughnut Machine" (1977).Another chapter, "The Case of the Cosmic Comic", was also adapted as a short film.
In 1964, film producerMorton SchindelandWeston Woods StudiosmadeRobert McCloskey, an 18-minutedocumentarythat is sometimes screened in art schools. It shows McCloskey sitting in Boston Public Garden intercut with pages from his sketchbook drawings forMake Way for Ducklings, while the illustrator recounts experiences that influenced his work and discusses the relationship of craftsmanship to inspiration.
InBoston Public Gardenasculpture of a family of nine ducks, by the sculptorNancy Schön, installed in 1987, commemorates McCloskey'sMake Way for Ducklings.A version was installed inMoscowin 1991.  InHamilton, Ohio, McCloskey's hometown, another sculpture by Schön, installed in 2002, depicts a boy and dog from McCloskey's first book,Lentil, published in 1940. McCloskey named the boy Lentil, but in a competition among schoolchildren the dog was given the name Harmony.InBoothbay Harbor, Maine, in theCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens, another sculpture by Schön, dedicated in 2010 and known asSal's Bear, depicts 
a baby bear and a nearby spilled pail of blueberries, based on the drawings in McCloskey'sBlueberries for Sal.