Mr. McCloskey’s Marvelous Mallards: the Making of Make Way for Ducklings by Emma Bland Smith, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander. Calkins Creek, 2022. 9781635923926
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 3
Format: Hardcover picture book
Genre: Biography
What did you like about the book? As the subtitle suggests, this is the story of the making of the book Make Way for Ducklings. Robert McCloskey has an idea that he wants to write a book about ducks finding a safe place to live and raise their children. The problem? All his sketches of ducks seem to be turning out wrong. As he struggles more and more, he realizes that he needs to be able to actually see live ducks for his drawings. Inspired, he acquires baby ducks, which he keeps in his New York City studio. As the story progresses he needs older and bigger ducks to draw. The new ducks then get added to the collection in his studio, which might have been a great comical interlude, but fails in the follow through. Finally, the drawings complete, the ducks go to a friend’s house to live out their lives.
Anything you didn’t like about it? The book was a bit disjointed with some themes unclear or incomplete. We’re, at times, not sure whether we are in Boston or New York and there is a running tagline of “he could do better” that is not grounded by the story. There’s not any new information in here and the story just feels drawn out.
To whom would you recommend this book? A Make Way for Ducklings fan might enjoy this book as an extra read.
Who should buy this book? If you have extra money in your budget, a public library or school library might want to add this to their collection.
Where would you shelve it? Picture books or biography
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Pam WattsFlavin, Head of Children’s Services, Robbins Library, Arlington, MA
Date of review: November 10, 2022
Youth Services Book Review 
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