The Ugly Duckling

by Harriet Ziefert

An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year ostracized by the other animals before he grows into a beautiful swan

Genres: Fairy Tales, Childrens, Picture Books

Unknown Binding

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very basic retelling, with lots of repetition. The duckling is still picked on by all and sundry, but at one point prior to his transformation, the swans actually do ask him to fly away with them, but he's unable to fly yet. Shootings, his mother disowning him, and the two different farmhouses are done away with, so this is very bare bones, but it does get to the heart of the story.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

He read it himself and wanted to keep it. While the illustrations are simple, it doesn't distract a new reader, but helps the context. He could predict what was going on (he's a swan) by the pictures before he read it.

[Yates Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is your standard ugly duckling fairy tale. You can use this book to teach diversity and how it is ok to be different.

[Courtney W · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a really good book with a good life lesson:dotn judge a person by thier looks, it's thier inside that counts.

[Barb]

childhood favorite

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this version, there is a lot of heartless teasing.

[Yasuko · Rating 2 out of 5]

2013.4.17 340words

[Cindy Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one liked him but on the last day he started to fly with the swans.