Robert McCloskey, author of Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine and many others, has died.
In the blunt words of my nephew Cashel: “I’m sad.”
McCloskey’s books are absolutely beloved by the O’Malley family. We grew up on them. We memorized parts of them (“CLAM CHOWDER FOR LUNCH”), and I obsessed over the illustrations. They were absolute magic for me. I wanted to creep through a crack in the atmosphere, and be in that big windy house in Maine, digging clams with Sal and her father. Also, both my parents are from Boston-Irish families, so “Make Way for Ducklings”, taking place in Boston’s public gardens, with the swan-boats, felt, somehow, when I was little, that it was written FOR me. I rode in those swan-boats! I rode in those swan-boats! I know that place! That book is about me!
He is a treasure. His books are classic.
His books, for me, contain my entire childhood. And now he is gone.
Thank you so much, Mr. McCloskey, for your books. I never wrote you a letter or anything, and now it’s too late, but wherever you are, I want you to know that your books meant, and still mean, the world to me. If I ever have children, I will continue the tradition, and read all of your books to them.
Writers like you (writers who not only are talented, and good story-tellers, but who somehow create stories that enter people’s personal landscapes, writers who somehow get into the hearts of their readers forever) are a rarity. So rare.
MORE:
Here’s the “obituary” piece in The New York Times, honoring this man.
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