The Ugly Duckling

A Goodnight, Sleep Tight Storybook

by Grace De La Touche, Pam Storey (Illustrator)

Genres: Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a great fan of the Ugly Duckling story, but this was quite interesting. The mother duck has six eggs and when the last is slow to hatch the chicken suggests it's a goose egg, but the goose suggests it's a turkey egg. I did like the kind of housewife chatter the birds were having to try to make sense of the situation. When the duckling hatches it swims so can't be a turkey. In fact, the duckling is better at swimming than its brothers and sisters, but back at the farmyard, everyone makes fun of the duckling and say how ugly he is. Soon even his brothers and sisters turn against him. But when his mother does he is very sad and decides to leave. He finds a large lake where some ducks are kind to him but they fly off at winter and some are shot by duck hunters. He finds another lake and lives alone but winter is cold and he gets trapped in the ice at one point, but luckily rescued by a man walking his dog. At the end of winter he sees the beautiful birds he has seen flying before and asks them who they are, noting how beautiful they are and how ugly he is. They tell them he is a swan like them. He no longer has to be alone and now others admire him for his beauty.

This story reeked of loneliness and sadness for the poor child who was emotionally abused in his early life. I don't love fairy tales that make much about outer beauty and ugliness and while I can see how this story has many layers of meaning, overall it just makes me sad.

[Andria Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about a duck's egg that hatched and the duckling did not look the same as the other ducklings so it got made fun of and called ugly. One day it realized it was not a duckling but rather a swan and it was just as beautiful as all the other swans.

I enjoyed this story and the way this book was written. I liked the way it showed that the duckling did not fit in in one group but then found the group it was supposed to be a part of.

(Traditional Lit)

[Mikal O'Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the classic story of the Ugly Duckling, and while I enjoyed this version, it wasn't quite as good as I remember. I have read versions of the Ugly Duckling that I liked better than this one, but nevertheless, the basic story line is still there and is still beautiful. The illustrations weren't to my particular taste, but they were still nice. Overall, I'm happy with the 'ugly duck turns swan' story.