#3 in Picture books
Make Way for Ducklings
- 67
- Pages
- about 1 h
- Reading time
- Caldecott Medal
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Our view
“Make Way for Ducklings” is a gentle, timeless picture book about a pair of mallards raising their ducklings in the heart of Boston. Robert McCloskey’s charcoal drawings, which won the Caldecott Medal, give the birds and the Boston settings real character, and the text is a pleasure to read aloud. Young listeners may soon want to read it by themselves, and grown-ups have plenty to enjoy too.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Make Way for Ducklings is an American children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941 by the Viking Press, the book centers on a pair of mallards who raise their brood of ducklings on an island in the lagoon in the Boston Public Garden. It won the 1942 Caldecott Medal for McCloskey's illustrations, executed in charcoal then lithographed on zinc plates. As of 2003, the book had sold over two million copies. The book's popularity led to the construction of a statue by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings, which is a popular destination for children and adults alike. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a duplicate of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbacheva as part of the START Treaty, and the work is displayed in Moscow's Novodevichy Park.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.7 across 81 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 36% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Picture books average of 8.3. That is how 8.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.7 | 14 | 17% |
| Hardcover | 8.7 | 67 | 83% |
Frequently asked
How long is Make Way for Ducklings?
It has 67 pages — longer than 92% of the ranked books in Picture books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Picture books — with scores between 8.2 and 8.4, closest to this book.
