Not my usual choice. Make Way for Ducklings is my favorite children’s book. It’s a cute story about a family of mallards who go to live in the Boston Public Garden.

I love this book for the illustrations, not so much for the story. The ducks are adorable, the city itself given such character. I grew up by a pond, so we always had ducks swimming in our backyard. Going into Boston as a child inevitably meant visiting the Public Garden, where there is a statue of Mrs Mallard with her ducklings.

But the illustrations! As a child, just as today, I would spend hours looking at the pictures, seeing how such character would come through in the illustrations. Understandably, it won a Caldecott award.