The children's book Make Way for Ducklings, which was written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, was one of my favorite children's books when I was a child. It is about two mallard ducks trying to find a place to raise their family. They decided to settle in Boston near the Charles River. Before choosing to stay at the Charles River they looked at the Public Garden where people fed them peanuts and where it was easy to find food. They decided to look further after a boy on a bike almost ran them over.
The Mr. and Mrs. Mallard meet Officer Michael who occasionally feed them peanuts and help them around the city. When the ducklings are hatched and have grown a little Mr. Mallard decides to take a trip down the river and tells Mrs. Mallard to meet him at the Public Garden in one week. This is when the Mallards decide to move the ducklings to the Public Garden where it is easier to find food. Mrs. Mallard walks her children threw the city to the Public Garden with the help of Officer Michael and four other Boston Police Officers. When they finally reached the Public Garden they make a new home on the small island in the middle of the Public Garden.
As a small child I believe that this book made sense to me at around the age of six or seven. The language used is fairly easy although the story is a little complex. It I hard for children that young to understand the concept that animals have to find a place to live so that they can raise their families. That is the one thing that took me so long to understand in the book. What I mean by this is the first line of the story. It starts out right away stating "Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live. But every time Mr. Mallard saw what looked like a nice place, Mrs. Mallard said it was no good. There were sure to be foxes in the woods or turtles in the water, and she was not going to raise a family where there might be foxes or turtles" (McCloskey).