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  "path": "/blog/202605/snake_way_for_ducklings",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-29T11:48:49.403Z",
  "site": "https://nedbatchelder.com",
  "tags": [
    "Boston Python",
    "Sleepy Snake",
    "shirt",
    "Make Way for\nDucklings",
    "sculpture",
    "are\ndressed in costumes",
    "not just fiction",
    "Duck Boat\ntours"
  ],
  "textContent": "This is the mascot for Boston Python. It’s called Snake Way for Ducklings:\n\nMy son Ben drew it, which makes me very happy. He also drew Sleepy Snake. Wearing this image on a shirt around PyCon, I had to explain it a number of times. People in Boston understand it almost immediately, but others need more background.\n\nIn 1941, Robert McCloskey wrote a children’s book called Make Way for\nDucklings. It’s a classic, selling millions of copies and never going out of print. We read it to our own children growing up many times.\n\nThe book is the story of Mrs. Mallard making her way through Boston guiding her eight ducklings (Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack) to a pond in Boston’s Public Garden. It has charming pencil illustrations:\n\nThe book led to a sculpture in the Public Garden near the actual pond:\n\nThe sculpture is sized and placed for kids to play on, and is widely known and beloved in Boston. The ducks are\ndressed in costumes for all kinds of occasions: holidays, sports events, even Star Wars day. On Mother’s Day, there’s a duckling parade: families bring their children dressed as ducklings. In Boston, the ducklings are a big deal.\n\nAnd it’s not just fiction.\n\nSo it seemed natural to Ben to riff on the ducklings for Boston Python. One observer thought a snake eating the ducklings seemed kind of dark, but you can see the ducklings are still quacking, so they are fine!\n\nBTW, Boston also has Duck Boat\ntours, but that’s completely different.",
  "title": "Snake way for ducklings",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-29T11:29:41.000Z"
}