A Book Review
Book name: Walt Disney’s The Ugly Duckling
Author: Annie North Bedford based on the tale by Hans Christen Andersen. Annie North Bedford is the pen name for Jane Werner Watson (1915-2004). She wrote several of the Little Golden Books.
Year published: 1952
Genre: Children’s literature, Little Golden Book
Reading age: To be read to: 2-6 years. To read themselves: 7+
The skinny: This version of The Ugly Duckling is the Disney version, based off the motion picture The Ugly Duckling and illustrated by The Walt Disney Studio. It tells the classic story of a so-called ugly duckling born to a family with regular looking ducklings. They ostracize the ugly ducking, but ultimately, in the end, he discovers he’s actually a beautiful swan and finds his way to his swam mom and family. In this version, it begins with a mom on her nest. Four eggs hatch and waddle around, and the mom is pleased with her family. But then the fifth egg, the biggest of all, hatches and out comes a duck that’s big, white and fuzzy, and honks instead of quacks. The mom and her ducklings abandon him and go off to the pond. The ugly duckling feels terrible and cries and decides he is ugly indeed. After a misadventure, four baby swans swim up to him and ask him to play. He then finds his mother, a beautiful swan. She welcomes him with open arms.
My take: I’ve always enjoyed the tale of the Ugly Duckling. It shows the importance of not judging a book by its cover. Just because the baby swan did not look like a baby duckling doesn’t mean he deserved to be ignored and told he was ugly. The book also shows how easily you can hurt someone – in this case the mom duck and ducklings were mean to the ugly ducking and he thus decided he really was ugly. It’s also about finding your place. Once the baby swan was reunited with his swan family, he quickly developed a sense of pride in who he was. At the end of the day, it shows that it’s both important to be true to yourself but also not to tease or ostracize others just because they look a little different.
Recommendation: This is a classic, so I would recommend this book on anyone’s shelves with young children. My son read this book and enjoyed it. It was a bit tough word wise for a rising second grader, but he got through it.
Animals highlighted: Swans and ducks
Where to find: Amazon