| Robert McCloskey | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 15, 1914 Hamilton, Ohio |
| Died | June 30, 2003 (aged 88) Deer Isle, Maine |
| Occupation | Author and Illustrator |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Vesper George Art School[1] |
| Period | 20th century |
| Notable work(s) | Make Way for Ducklings |
| Notable award(s) | Caldecott Medal |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Durand |
Robert McCloskey (September 15, 1914 – June 30, 2003) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. McCloskey wrote and illustrated eight books, two of which won the Caldecott Medal, the American Library Association's annual award of distinction for children's book illustration.[1][2]
Many of McCloskey's books were set on the Maine coast, including One Morning in Maine and Burt Dow, Deep Water-man.
Born on September 15, 1914, in Hamilton, Ohio, McCloskey arrived in Boston in 1932 after being awarded a scholarship to the Vesper George Art School. He then moved to New York to study at the National Academy of Design.[1]
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In 1940, he married Peggy Durand, daughter of children's author Ruth Sawyer.[1] They had two daughters, Sally and Jane, and settled in New York State, spending summers on Scott Island, Maine. That was the setting for his Caldecott Honor book, Blueberries for Sal, whose characters little Sal and her mother are reputed to be based on McCloskey's wife and eldest daughter Sally.
McCloskey's wife Peggy died in 1991. Twelve years later, in 2003, McCloskey died at his home in Deer Isle, Maine.
Make Way for Ducklings was the 1942 Caldecott Medal winner. The book tells of a mallard family that comes to live in a pond in the Public Garden in the center of Boston, Massachusetts, and how a friendly policeman stops traffic when the mother takes her eight ducklings across the street. This story has become an institution in Boston, and in 2003, it was named the official children's book of Massachusetts[3] In 1987, sculptor Nancy Schön created a bronze version of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings in the Public Garden,[4] which are climbed on by thousands of children every year. The park is also the site of an annual Make Way for Ducklings Mother's Day parade, featuring hundreds of children dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters.
McCloskey won a second Caldecott Medal in 1958 for Time of Wonder. He also received Caldecott Honors for Blueberries for Sal in 1949, One Morning in Maine in 1953 and JourneyCake, Ho! in 1954.[2] Marc Simont, another Caldecott Medal winner, said of McCloskey in a Horn Book Magazine article: "Bob McCloskey’s talent for devising mechanical contraptions is topped only by his ability to turn out books that carry off the Caldecott Medal."[5]
A chapter from Homer Price was adapted into a short film, The Doughnuts (1963).[6] The same chapter was adapted for an ABC Weekend Special called "Homer and the Wacky Doughnut Machine" (1977).[7] "The Case of the Cosmic Comic" was also adapted into a short film.
In 1964, film producer Morton Schindel and Weston Woods Studios (Norwalk, Connecticut) made the 18-minute Robert McCloskey, a documentary which is sometimes screened in art schools. The film shows McCloskey sitting in Boston Public Garden and intercuts pages from his sketchbook drawings for Make Way for Ducklings. The illustrator discusses experiences that have influenced his work and the relationship of craftsmanship to inspiration.[8]
In McCloskey's hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, there is a statue depicting the title character and dog from his book Lentil (1940). In the book, the dog is unnamed, but after a competition among schoolchildren, the dog is now known as Harmony.[9]
McCloskey was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000.[10]