Robert McCloskey

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an American author and illustrator of children's books. McCloskey wrote and illustrated eight books, two of which won the Caldecott Medal, the American Library Association's annual award of distinction for children's book illustration.

Many of McCloskey's books were set on the Maine coast, including One Morning in Maine and Burt Dow, Deep Water-man.

Make Way for Ducklings was the 1942 Caldecott Medal winner. The book tells of a mallard family that comes to live in a pond in the Public Garden in the center of Boston, Massachusetts and how a friendly policeman stops traffic when the mother takes her eight ducklings across the street. This story has become an institution in Boston, and in 2003, it was named the official children's book of Massachusetts In 1987, sculptor Nancy Schön created a bronze version of Mrs. Mallard and the ducklings in the Public Garden, which are climbed on by thousands of children every year. The park is also the site of an annual Make Way for Ducklings Mother's Day parade, featuring hundreds of children dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters.

Born on September 15, 1914, in Hamilton, Ohio, McCloskey arrived in Boston in 1932 after being awarded a scholarship to the Vesper George Art School. He then moved to New York to study at the National Academy of Design.

In 1940, he married Peggy Durand, daughter of children's author Ruth Sawyer. They had two daughters, Sally and Jane, and settled in New York State, spending summers on Scott Island, Maine. That was the setting for his Caldecott Honor book, Blueberries for Sal, whose characters little Sal and her mother are reputed to be based on McCloskey's wife and eldest daughter Sally.