Robert McCloskey: 100th Anniversary of His Birth

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Robert McCloskey’s birth. McCloskey is the author/illustrator of such familiar American children’s books as Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, and Time of Wonder. His first picture book was Lentil, which idealized his own boyhood in small-town America. This month’s issue of Horn Book Magazine features an essay on McCloskey by children’s literature critic Leonard Marcus. Marcus opens with this:

Robert McCloskey was to the mid-twentieth American picture book what Norman Rockwell was to the illustrated magazine of that era: the artist most adept at divining the mythic dimension in the dramas of everyday life, and at crafting iconic images of a particular time and place with the power to stir and delight generations.

Marcus sums up McCloskey well, and I daresay I’m not the only contemporary mom who, while reading Blueberries for Sal, imagines going blueberry picking and putting them up for the winter. When my children and I see mallard ducks in any pond, we think of them as Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. McCloskey captures the scenes so well and invites the reader into the experience, much as Rockwell does with his paintings.

This week, Megan and I take a look at some of McCloskey’s longer works that sometimes escape contemporary notice. His first picture book, Lentil, is ideal for newly independent readers. Homer Price and Centerberg Tales continue that same autobiographical trend as McCloskey reimagines his own childhood in chapter book form. Check out one of his picture books at the library this week and add his chapter books to your new reader’s repertoire.

images from Amazon and Library of Congress