Make Way for Ducklings – and Boston
First Grade.
I hear the story Make Way for Ducklings for the first time in first grade. My teacher, Alvina, reads to us every day after lunch. Sometimes we rest our heads on our desks, and sometimes we rest our elbow on the table and put our chins into our hands while she reads. She turns page after page. We are always sorry when she comes to the end of the book.
One day, Alvina picks up a new book. It is called Make Way for Ducklings. She holds the book like always, between her thumb and little finger, and watches our expressions. She reads about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who are looking for a home.
They look in Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill, around the state house, and decide to settle down on the banks of the Charles River. Eight ducklings hatch. Mrs. Mallard wants to take them to the Public Garden to meet Mr. Mallard.
To do that, she must cross a busy intersection. Michael, the friendly policeman, knows the duck family because he feeds them peanuts on the riverbank of the park every day. When Mrs. Mallard tries to take her family across the street, people honk at them. Michael holds traffic back so they can all cross at the corner of Beacon Street. They enter the Public Garden and live there happily.
Make Way for Ducklings
It’s a delightful story set in Boston, MA and puts the Public Garden on the map. [Dave and I visited the Mallards when we visited Boston this fall. The hike into Boston was worth all 19,369 steps to see the bronze sculptures by Nancy Schön (with permission by McCloskey), placed there in 1987.]
I run my hands on the sculptures and delight in other children sitting atop Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack. They know the story and are as thrilled as I am to see the ducklings. One father is impressed when I quote some of the story out loud to a child who wants to know the name of the duckling on which he’s sitting. He’s especially impressed when I tell him about Alvina, my first grade class, and the many times I have recounted the story over my lifetime. The ducklings are dressed in outfits throughout the year, for special events and holidays. At our visit, they sport a back to school theme.
Standing in the Public Garden, I am a child again, sitting in Alvina’s first and second grade classroom. I am 64 years younger in that classroom. In the ensuing years, this story remains tucked in my heart. I’ve worn out one book reading the story to children. Now I read it to my grandchildren. Forever a classic, it’s a story about family and a neighborhood of people who look out for others.
As I ponder the events in our world today, I realize again how much better the world would be if we’d all learn to make way for ducklings.
