John Robert McCloskey (September 15, 1914 – June 30, 2003) was an American writer and illustrator of

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s. He both wrote and illustrated eight

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

, and won two

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

s from the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

for the year's best-illustrated picture book. Four of the eight books were set in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

: ''Blueberries for Sal'', ''One Morning in Maine'', ''Time of Wonder'', and ''Burt Dow, Deep-water Man'' (the last three of those four were all set on the coast). His best-known work is '' Make Way For Ducklings'', set in Boston. In longer works, he both wrote and illustrated '' Homer Price'' and he illustrated Keith Robertson's '' Henry Reed'' series.

Biography

McCloskey was born in

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Cincinnati along the Great Miami River, Hamilton is the second-most populous city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the List of municipaliti ...

, on September 15, 1914 to Howard and Mabel McCloskey. He had two sisters, Melba and Dorothy. As a teen, McCloskey was a camper-turned-counselor at Camp Campbell Gard, where at age 16 he carved a totem pole which stood at the camp for over 50 years. His work on the totem pole is said to have led to him being chosen to create the bas relief and cast aluminum pieces decorating the Hamilton Municipal building in 1934, when he was 19. He reached Boston in 1932 with a scholarship to study at Vesper George Art School. After Vesper George, he moved to New York City for study at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

. In 1940, he married Peggy Durand, daughter of the children's writer Ruth Sawyer. They had two daughters, Sarah and Jane, and settled in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

, spending summers on Scott Island, a small island off Little Deer Isle in East Penobscot Bay. McCloskey's wife and elder daughter Sarah are the models for little Sal and her mother in '' Blueberries for Sal'' (1948), a picture book set on a "Blueberry Hill" in the vicinity. Three others of his picture books are set on the coast and concern the sea. Peggy died in 1991. Twelve years later on June 30, 2003, McCloskey died in Deer Isle, Maine.

Recognition

McCloskey won the 1942

for '' Make Way for Ducklings''. The story, set in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, features a

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

pair that nests on an island in the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

. After raising eight ducklings on the island, the mother leads them to the Public Garden downtown. A friendly policeman stops traffic to let them cross a busy street. The story soon became a Boston institution. Sculptor Nancy Schön created a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings in 1987, installed along a walkway between pond and street. There thousands of children climb them every year and many more people photograph them; the park is also the annual site of a ''Make Way for Ducklings''

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in Mar ...

parade, featuring hundreds of children dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters. Since 2003 ''Make Way for Ducklings'' is the official children's book of Massachusetts. McCloskey won a second Caldecott Medal in 1958 for '' Time of Wonder''. Meanwhile, he had been a runner-up in 1949 for '' Blueberries for Sal'', in 1953 for '' One Morning in Maine'', and in 1954 for ''JourneyCake, Ho!'', the latter written by his mother-in-law Sawyer. In a 1958 magazine article titled "Bob McCloskey, Inventor", another Medal winner Marc Simont observed that " istalent for devising mechanical contraptions is topped only by his ability to turn out books that carry off the Caldecott Medal." The Homer Price stories (two books) were translated into Russian in the 1970s and became popular in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

named McCloskey a "Living Legend" in 2000.

Films

One chapter from '' Homer Price'' was adapted as a short film, ''The Doughnuts'' (1963). The same chapter was adapted for an '' ABC Weekend Special'' called "Homer and the Wacky Doughnut Machine" (1977). Another chapter, "The Case of the Cosmic Comic", was also adapted as a short film. In 1964, film producer Morton Schindel and Weston Woods Studios made ''Robert McCloskey'', an 18-minute

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that is sometimes screened in art schools. It shows McCloskey sitting in Boston Public Garden intercut with pages from his sketchbook drawings for ''Make Way for Ducklings'', while the illustrator recounts experiences that influenced his work and discusses the relationship of craftsmanship to inspiration.

Public art

* Totem Pole (summer 1931), now housed in the Hamilton, Ohio Municipal Building museum — McCloskey carved the totem pole while a counselor at Camp Campbell Gard where it stood for over 50 years * Sculpture (completed 1935),

Municipal Building — McCloskey created models in bas relief. * Murals (1939), including six formerly housed in the Sloan Building (E52) on the

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

campus — McCloskey assisted Francis Scott Bradford depicting Beacon Hill socialites in large murals commissioned by the

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

Derivative art

Boston Public Garden The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the Downtown Boston, heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks and is bounded by Charles Street (Bos ...

a sculpture of a family of nine ducks, by the sculptor Nancy Schön, installed in 1987, commemorates McCloskey's ''Make Way for Ducklings.'' A version was installed in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1991. In

, McCloskey's hometown, another sculpture by Schön, installed in 2002, depicts a boy and dog from McCloskey's first book, ''Lentil'', published in 1940. McCloskey named the boy Lentil, but in a competition among schoolchildren the dog was given the name Harmony. In Boothbay Harbor, Maine, in the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, another sculpture by Schön, dedicated in 2010 and known as ''Sal's Bear'', depicts a baby bear and a nearby spilled pail of blueberries, based on the drawings in McCloskey's ''Blueberries for Sal.''

Books

As author and illustrator

*''Lentil'' (1940) *'' Make Way for Ducklings'' (1941),

winner *'' Homer Price'' (1943) *'' Blueberries for Sal'' (1948), a Caldecott Honor Award *'' Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price'' (1951); also issued as ''More Homer Price'' *'' One Morning in Maine'' (1952), a Caldecott Honor Award *'' Time of Wonder'' (1957), Caldecott Medal winner *'' Burt Dow, Deep-water Man'' (1963)

As illustrator only

* ''Yankee Doodle's Cousins'' (1941) written by Anne Malcolmson * ''Tree Toad: Adventures of the Kid Brother'' (1942) by Bob Davis, illus. McCloskey and

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator who created the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent American woman at the turn of the 20th century. He published his ...

* ''Young America's English Book One'' (1942) by Helen Fern Daringer * '' The Man Who Lost His Head'' (1942) by Claire Huchet Bishop; paperback reissue (1970) * ''Trigger John's Son'' (1949) by Tom Robinson * ''Journey Cake, Ho'' (1953) by Ruth Sawyer, a Caldecott Honor Book * ''Junket: The Dog Who Liked Everything "Just So"'' (1955) by Anne H. White * ''Henry Reed, Inc.'' (1958), by Keith Robertson * ''Henry Reed's Journey'' (1963), by Robertson * ''Henry Reed's Babysitting Service'' (1966), by Robertson * ''Henry Reed's Big Show'' (1970), by Robertson

Notes

References

External links

"Maine Kennecott Winners by Robert McCloskey"
by Elizabeth Kennedy, children's book guide at About.com * Horn Book Radio Review {{DEFAULTSORT:McCloskey, Robert 1914 births 2003 deaths American children's writers Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Writers from Maine Writers who illustrated their own writing People from Deer Isle, Maine People from Hamilton, Ohio Books by Robert McCloskey