An abridged, easy to read version of Hans Christian Andersen's story about a baby bird unlike his siblings and neighbors who is rejected and called ugly, and hence sees himself as ugly, until he meets up with swans who accept him without criticism and invite him to fly with them; he does so when he matures and becomes strong enough. Clearly this is not about ducks and swans, but about people and acceptance and self-image and .... There is no explanation of how a swan egg ended up with eight duck eggs. Although the birds can talk and feel like humans, they behave like animals.

The pictures are simple and colorful. Some the harsh adventures the duckling endures are not included, but that's OK.

Even though this is an easy reader book, the story is well written and doesn't feel dumbed down. There are some interesting touches. The mother notes that the duckling is not like the others; his siblings are the ones who therefore call him ugly. When other ducks tell him he is not a duck, he insists that he is: he does not want to be different; being like everyone else is more important than self actualization. He stumbles upon a group of swans who invite him to fly with them, but he is too young. Do they know he is also a swan? It isn't until the next spring that he has grown big and strong enough to fly with them. Even then, he assumes that they won't want him because he is ugly and a duck; he explains why they should reject him before they have a chance to not do so. They have to tell him that he is wrong on both counts. Does he ever learn to do things for himself and not merely to be accepted by others? ( )

This book is about a duck who gets made fun of because he looks different. Everywhere he goes different animals call him ugly. Then one day he sees the most beautiful bird he has ever seen, a swan. He hides from them because he doesn't want them to call him ugly like the others did. Then one day he discovers he is a swan and lives happily ever after.
I love this story! It has an awesome message behind it. Not everyone is the same and we should not make fun of people because they are different.
In the classroom I would read this book to the kids when we were learning about friendship or manners. I would also have them color their own ugly duckling and then color a swan.