The Ugly Duckling (retold)
Written by Madge Tovey
Illustrated by Cindy Douglas
Reviewed by DZ (age 7)
Do you like baby chicks? When the ugly duckling hatched out of his egg, the other chicks made fun of him because he was ugly and did not look like them. So, they were mean to him and would not even let him have any crumbs to eat. One interesting event from this book is that the ugly duckling is a cygnet, which is a baby swan. In this book, it is unusual that the animals can talk. When the ugly duckling grew up, he found out the reason why he did not look like his brothers and sisters. It was because he saw his reflection in the water, and discovered that he was a swan. This story can teach you to never be rude to ugly or weird people, because they can turn into beautiful things. The ducks, turkeys, and ________, were startled at the swan's new beauty. Read the book to find out the three animals that saw the swan.
I like this book because the ugly duckling's life got easier. The illustrations in this book are good because they have a lot of color. My favorite part is when the ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan, because he was not sad anymore.
Kids that like swans might like this book because the swan is the main character. Even kindergarteners could read this story because it doesn't have hard words, and the pictures help to tell what the story is about and what the characters are doing. Adults and children might both enjoy this story because the ugly duckling turns into something beautiful.