Book of the Week- Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Last week I recommended a book published in 2013.  Once in a while I find a treasure in the books written today, but most of my favorite children's books were written some years ago.  Why?  It's not because there aren't still great children's books being written today.  The problem is that so many of the books written today are what Charlotte Mason would call "twaddle"- books with no depth, that really don't encourage children to think and use their minds.  Books that I can't be bothered to read mroe than once.  I'm sure there was much twaddle written fifty years or more ago as well.  After all, Charlotte Mason coined the term more than one hundred years ago.  But those books didn't stand the test of time.  When I reach for a book that is still being published many years later, I find that I'm much more likely to find a treasure, simply because the books that weren't worth reading have been weeded out with time leaving mostly the really good ones.

All that to say that the book that is our favorite this week is a book originally written in 1941.  As I told Princess this morning, that's before I was born and even before her grandparents were borh!  But this story is timeless and I love reading it again and again.  The pencil drawn illustrations are rich with detail, leading to conversations about different things every time we read it.  "Make Way for Ducklings" was a Caldecott winner.  It tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who must find a place to raise their ducklings and of the great adventure Mrs. Mallard has leading her ducklings through the city.

This is not a story for children who are inexperienced with read-alouds.  The sentence structure is complex and the pictures aren't as bright as most modern books.  But for a child who has been gradually lead into more and more complex stories, with daily read-aloud times since infancy, this book is a gem.  My 2 and 4-year-olds both love it. 

Are there any older books that are favorites in your home?