“In the beginning, a duck is an egg. A drawing is a blank page. A sculpture is a lump of clay. ”In the beginning, there was a boy named Bob and a girl named Nancy. Bob grew up in Ohio and later studied art in Boston, where he often watched the ducks in the Public Garden. Nancy grew up near Boston and liked looking at books about sculptors in the library. Bob, a.k.a. Robert McCloskey, wrote and illustrated a beloved picture book called Make Way for Ducklings. Nancy Schön later created the iconic, child-pleasing duck sculptures in Boston Public Garden based on the story. This charming account of the two artists and their linked works incorporates marvelous details about their individual research for their respective projects (McCloskey even brought home a live duck for study), and their first and subsequent meetings as Nancy sought Bob’s approval for the sculptures. The winsome illustrations are a perfect pairing for the storytelling in a volume that includes more about each artist in an author’s note, along with a timeline and short bibliography. (Ages 6–9)