Make Way for Ducklings!

My parents were both from the Boston area. My mom from Somerville and my dad from Cambridge and Marblehead, but his side of the family goes back in the Salem area for almost 400 years.I spent several summers back east as a kid.

My Nana McGreal always took me shopping at Filene’s, Nana Hayden took me shopping in Salem and to Salem Harbor and my Uncle Connie always gave me the teacher whirlwind tour of all of Boston’s historical spots.

One of my favorite traditions was to ride the Swan Boats in the Public Garden. When I took my own children to Boston, I continued that tradition, taking them on the Swan Boats.

Visiting the Make Way for Ducklings statues is also a tradition When we went in 1989, I bought a nice sized copy of Make Way for Ducklings and placed a photo of LJ inside the front cover. This was just 2 years after the statues were installed.

I repeated this in 1999 adding an underwhelmed Jay.

So this summer when the whole family descended upon Aunt Elena and Uncle Connie, we road the Swan Boats and returned to the statues to take a photo of everyone!

Have you read Make Way for Ducklings lately? Have you read it to your kids? Have you ever read it? Take a quiet moment and enjoy the 1941 Classic and Caldecott Winner! And when you are in Boston, visit the Public Garden for a ride on the Swan Boats and to visit the Make Way for Ducklings statues. You’ll be glad you did.

Blessings, Shay

Did you know that some of the ducklings have been stolen over the years?

All photos not mine are from Wikipedia.