Like so many children growing up in Maine and elsewhere in the 1950s I was introduced to, and quickly fell under the spell of, the timeless works of author and illustrator Robert McCloskey.

McCloskey’s warm, funny, quirky oddly believable storylines in children’s classics like “Make Way for Ducklings” and “Blueberries for Sal” were illuminated by his beautiful, bold, original drawings.

Imagine my surprise when Weston Woods, the Connecticut-based production company famous for their animated film adaptations of classic children’s books like “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel” and Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” along with several of McCloskey’s early works, asked me to audition for the job of narrating McCloskey’s last book: “Bert Dow, Deep-Water Man.”

It was literally a dream come true. I immediately recorded a “sample” narration, popped it in the U.S. mail, sat back and held my breath.

As soon as I got word that I’d passed the audition I gassed up my trusty AMC Hornet station wagon and headed for Connecticut. I already knew what to expect when I arrived at Weston Woods, but the experience was amazing nonetheless. The production studios were located in a series of English-style cottages nestled in the beautifully landscaped southern Connecticut re-imagining of an English Cotswold Village.

I was shown to my “cottage” and as I unpacked I noticed the fantastic artwork on the walls. In every room, I encountered what appeared to be high quality framed reproductions of great classic children’s illustrations. It wasn’t until the next morning while sipping my morning coffee that I took a closer look and realized that these were, in fact, not reproductions at all. They were the original illustrations by the original artists! 

I spent the next couple of days working on several slightly different versions of “Bert Dow” and another great children’s book, “King of the Cats” by author/illustrator Paul Galdone. I’m pleased to report that both of these productions, upon release, met with both commercial success and critical acclaim.

The whole experience was incredible. My only regret being that I hadn’t gotten a chance to meet Mr. McCloskey in person. There had been some suggestion that he might come down for the recording sessions, but I’d figured that possibility was simply too good to be true. Maybe someday, I thought.

Someday arrived sooner than expected.

About a year later I was booked at The Grand Theatre in Ellsworth for a Saturday night show in June. The next day being Father’s Day, my wife had a surprise planned.

I had no idea what to expect as we drove out of Ellsworth early on a bright clear Sunday morning, made it across the old rickety Deer Isle bridge, parked in a dirt parking lot by a wooden dock and stood on there waiting for something to happen. 

Presently, a lobster boat approached. I could see that the craft was piloted by a smiling suntanned woman a couple of years older than me. She deftly docked the boat, cut the engine and hopped out on the dock. Extending her hand she said, “Hi, I’m Sal McCloskey.” 

I was stunned. Sal McCloskey; as in “Blueberries for Sal”?

The very one, it turned out. The day that followed was nothing short of magical. Sal ferried us out to “Bob’s island” for a Father’s Day luncheon with Bob, his wife Peggy, and her sister Jane.

As a lifelong fan of McCloskey’s books, I was already intimately familiar with the island and even the cast of characters I encountered that day. This place, the grove of pine trees, the carpet of leafy ferns, had all been lovingly and accurately reproduced by the artist in his books “A Time of Wonder” and “One Morning in Maine.”

Bob McCloskey himself could not have been more welcoming. It turned out that he was familiar with my work and had personally requested that I be approached to narrate “Bert Dow.”

After lunch he spent some time showing me around his oddly familiar island home. I saw the crescent beach where the Osprey wheeled and hovered, the big cleft rock where the children played at low tide and even the last remains of the blown down tree trunk where the girls searched for treasures after the storm.

My first visit to McCloskey’s magical island world marked the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Bob and I hit it off immediately and remained friends for many years, right up until his passing in the summer of 2003. During my time at CBS News “Sunday Morning,” I had the unique opportunity to re-enact that first meeting with Robert McCloskey. Although always somewhat publicity shy, Bob gamely complied as the film crew had him take and re-take scene after scene.

The result was one of the most well-loved of all my CBS Postcards and the network received tons of positive responses from viewers around the country. I was obviously pleased and proud.

But, nothing will ever top the real life experience of meeting my childhood hero Robert McCloskey and visiting his island home all those years ago on that one very special morning in Maine.