On My Shelf: Favorite Maine Picture Book

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey, published in 1952, captivated me as a young child for its simplicity and lovely depictions of young sisters on a day out with their father, who readers are introduced to as he is digging clams down at the shore. My dad was a clam digger all his life, and so I thought the book was written just for me. 

After the opening scene of awaking and helping her baby sister out of bed and dressing, Sal, trundles down stairs to breakfast in a 1950s rural kitchen. Then she skips along to see her father down on the shore where she finds her father digging clams and tells him about her loose tooth. As she digs around in the mud, her tooth pops out, and she is sad because she couldn't find it. 

My father dug clams from the time he was a boy and made a handy living at it for many years. He continued to dig clams even when his body was giving out. He had been a lobsterman and truck driver for various construction operations and seafood wholesalers over the years. But clamming was his go-to. I remember when he would go to other towns for the week to dig, and sometimes my mother and us kids would tag along in a camper for the week. I remember when he would come home from meetings when they were tightening up licensing, and clammers would be restricted to getting licenses in their own towns with lottery-type opportunities to buy non-resident licenses in other towns, and when the size of clams that were "keepers" had to be 2 inches or more. All these changes were to preserve the natural resource and keep it stable. I remember the frustration when red tide (a bacteria) would cause restrictions for digging. I remember being "shushed" during the weather report on the evening news. I remember shifting tides, long and short, early ups and early to beds to make those early tides. I remember my dad coming home from early tides and steaming a mess of clams for his breakfast. (Eww, I was not a fan, only fried clams for me!)

One Morning in Maine was my childhood. Its the first picture storybook I loved and had read to me over and over. I have purchased a copy for nearly every child in my life. I never went clamming much myself. I have two recollections of going along with my dad as a young girl. It was usually where we could walk in and didn't need to take the skiff down river. I was likely a nuisance. I remember one time when rolling thunder could be heard. I was scared. We were out in the open. The storm was far off, and Dad kept reassuring me that it was ok, and we would leave soon, but I kept whining until we left.

The book continues that Sal and her baby sister go to town with their dad, which requires going in their skiff across the bay, to do errands. Along the way, the outboard taps out, and dad has to row. Big sister Sal is more concerned with keeping her little sister safe and big-sistering. I was a big sister, too, so I could relate to her "responsible" demeanor. 

The story is sweet and innocent and a slice of Maine. Sal loses a tooth, talks to a seal, falls on the slippery seaweed, and gets an ice cream treat in town. Its lovely. The drawings are line drawings and the coloring is black and white with some background color, but it all represents that time period of Maine coast well. This will always be a favorite. 

Robert McCloskey was not born in Maine but in Ohio. He landed in Maine sometime after he started his family. Apparently they resided on Scott Island, a 6-acre island off Deer Isle, in the summers. I found this article stating the daughters, Sal and Jane, (who are the girls named in One Morning in Maine), finalized donating the island to the Nature Conservancy in 2017. 

Here is a video showing the town where Sal and Jane and their father went in the book.

McCloskey is known for other Maine and New-England based story books, Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings (Boston). In the Boston Public Garden there is the now-famous installed sculpture representing the ducks. They often are dressed in garb representing a holiday, a happening, or in support of a cause. 

I also came across a play based on One Morning in Maine. It will be playing in May in Ellsworth!

The local agricultural fair in Union, "Maine's Wild Blueberry Festival," will have a permanent mural installed at the fairgrounds from McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal. Sarah "Sal" McCloskey is also scheduled to read her father's book during the fair. 

I love this book and highly recommend any of McCloskey's books for children. He also has the Homer Price and Centerburg Tales series of children's chapter books, which I enjoyed reading to my son as a grade-schooler. 

More info on Robert McCloskey, the reluctant book illustrator and author.