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The Ugly Duckling (Caldecott Honor Book) Review
For over one hundred years The Ugly Duckling has been a childhood favorite, and Jerry Pinkney's spectacular new adaptation brings it triumphantly to new generations of readers. With keen emotion and fresh vision, the acclaimed artist captures the essence of the tale's timeless appeal: The journey of the awkward little bird -- marching bravely through hecklers, hunters, and cruel seasons -- is an unforgettable survival story; this blooming into a graceful swan is a reminder of the patience often necessary to discover true happiness. Splendid watercolors set in the lush countryside bring drama to life. User Submitted The Ugly Duckling (Caldecott Honor Book) ReviewsMay 7, 2008 Gorgeous Hans Christian Anderson original fantastic prose is kept to its sparkling perfection in this book as Jerry Pinkney happily puts in his charming and almost dream-like illustrations. Fantastic edition. September 11, 2007 such a deep meaning between its light, childish writings... (This review is about the story and not about the specific content of the book) Luis Mejia (son) - As a fan of more classic readings, I personaly got to appreciate Hans Christen Andersen as one of my favourite writters, not only because his beautiful, gorgeous tales are brought up for a sleepy kid who likes to hear a story from his dad, as he finally gets asleep with a smile, its because among all of his works, some may be totally written for putting on paper a story full of fantastic moments but without an implicit meaning, but in its underlying words, it can teach a lot about values, just like The Little Mermaid tales a great value and a deep, underlying meaning of true love, making hard decissions toward the theme, the beauty of love an its unreachable boundaries, but, among all of Andersen's writtigs, The Ugly Duckling is one of his two that makes me cry. Its heartful, touchy story about a little duck, who, like every alive creature in the world, even a real duck, just want to be accepted as a normal duck who wants to learn about the experience of life, even when he doesn't knows that, unfortunately, this doesn't go that way, his brothers and other mates would constantly pick on him, bothering him, making the poor duck cry, even his mother felt embarassed about having such an ugly duck, what's the meaning in this part of the story? When you are an adult, or a mature adolescent one gets it quickly, even its meaning about rejecting/bullying others because of any condition (as this is not focused on beauty, is focused on any aspect that it could be found) can be seen in modern society, and, as it later reflects on the ongoing story, it can have very sad effects. The duck, all alone even at his early life, goes onto a journey of searching his place or at least some love, and he fails a couple of times, here the meaning is another very deep one, life is about risks and chances, and nothing is sure, anyone can make mistakes in any moment of his life, even when they are sadder. And when, finally, he discovers a place where he wished he could live, he felt deeply attracted by this place and its animals, and, when these attractive animals come closer, the little ugly duckling was already been hurted, so he was even more scared, as these animals he was seeing where something really special, to the point of even thinking "It doesn't matter now, I would prefer to dye here, beside this beautiful creatures, even if they kill me, or I dye in the cold, instead of all alone outside" (it really says this) this part really touches my heart. But instead of finding strong rejection, he founds comprehension and acceptance, he is even regarded as one of those beautiful animals which he dreamed about! For children, there's no way to search for a meaning here, as it may stay as a simple, short story, attractive because of talking animals and light emotions, and a very good one for putting to sleep a children, but for adults, this story is much more than that, the story coul've been made up to even 500 pages, although here the parts are clear, main rejection, something general instead of specific, a search for a true home, a couple of places with searched with failure, and his final transformation. So, the values that this story teaches are amazing and pretty recognizables, values like those of patience, love, comprehension, although the story's main point is clear: even in our hardest situations in life, at any age, at any time, we should always be hopeful and faithful, we'll have to start our journey for finding our place, as the duck did, we shall never give up, don't be the duck that dies in the cold or loses every hope, we'll make a lot of mistakes, go through many situations that gets us down in the road, but without giving up, as the duck who finds two places where he didn't fit as well (as well as it could've been a thousand places), and, even if the road seems eternal and unreachable, even if we've been through a lot of sad stories, even if we're all alone within any situation, we'll find our true home, the true love, our deeply desired place, we'll finally discover ourselves, and have a happy ending, living happy forever. Plus, the gorgeous illustrations and sensitive way of telling the story in the book, makes it a really fantastic, pretty edition. February 9, 2007 Know who you are This book was absolutely wonderful, especially the illustrations. My children loved it. It was not just about being ugly, it was about knowing who you are, your roots, etc - self awareness and self-confidence. The poor duckling "thought" that he was ugly because he didn't know who he really was [a swan]. ...Because he was different from everyone around him, he believed that he was what everyone said he was -- ugly and worthless. The others picked on him because he was different. Once he discovered the truth of who he really was is when he was set free from the bondage of all the untruth that he heard. He discovered who he really was and flourished. May 12, 2006 The Kind of Hope We All Need to Remember A beautiful picture book on the Hans Christian Anderson tale. The Ugly Duckling is one of the world's most passionate childrens' stories of becoming. A wonderful book to read to remind a child what's possible no matter what. It's always a good thing to know one really is a swan ...underneath it all. June 23, 2005 Honk! "The Ugly Duckling" is one of those rare examples of the triumph of image over story. Anyone who's ever read, heard, or seen performed this story knows that there are elements to it that can make you feel a hair uncomfortable. After all, the moral of the tale is that it doesn't matter how awful your life has been just so long as you're beautiful and look like all the pretty people in the end. Even if we dislike what "The Ugly Duckling" is trying to say, though, it's hard not to be compelled by its striking images. The cygnet amongst the ducklings. The resentment directed at him by both the animal kingdom and humankind. And then, the slow realization that he is in fact the most beautiful creature in the entire world. If this story were a Grimm Brothers tale it would probably end with the duckling rubbing his newfound good looks in his siblings' faces. Fortunately, we're in Hans Christian Andersen territory here, and (more specifically) Jerry Pinkney territory as well. Mr. Pinkney has taken Andersen's original wordy version and pared it down to the point where contemporary children will understand and identify with it better. He's even changed the moral of the tale oh-so-slightly so that it's less lotsa-pain-equals-more-physical-beauty and more hard-work-will-lead-to-happiness-in-the-end. I'm not personally buying it, but that's the fault of Andersen. Not Pinkney. In case you are not familiar with the original Andersen version (and isn't it remarkable that there isn't a Disney version out there somewhere?) here's the lowdown. One day a mother duck finds that one of her eggs is different from the others. No explanation of this is ever given. Pity. When the eggs hatch the largest/different one takes a long time to crack open and when it does it exhibits a large ugly grey "duckling". Immediately, trouble starts. Other ducks bite the duckling's head and its brothers and sisters join in. It gets so depressed that when a dog passes it over as a meal it can only think, "I am too ugly even for a dog to eat". A woman, a cat, and a chicken all find the duckling to be utterly useless. It freezes in a pond and flees the nice man that frees it. Finally after multiple trials and countless tribulations the duckling turns into a swan, meets up with its brethren, and discovers the beauty of ... um... beauty. No deep insights in this one. Now normally I don't much care for Jerry Pinkney's illustrations. I found his "John Henry" to be a bit slapdash and his "Noah's Ark" lacking. For some reason though, "The Ugly Duckling" works. When you consider that I don't usually like the story and I don't usually like the illustrator, the fact that I like the two when combined is just plum weird. It's not that the story has improved much. But under Pinkney's hand it becomes tolerable. Sure, it's still mighty depressing to see the poor little duckling bitten, screamed at, and teased. But when he's beautiful, there's no arguing with his looks. In the end, I tip my hat to Pinkney's guts. Some people will pooh-pooh this review because they feel I'm criticizing the story and not the edition itself. Blarney. You can't separate this book from the tale on which it's based. I'm still not a fan of "The Ugly Duckling". I think it teaches the wrong lessons in a clumsy way. But Jerry Pinkney has given us perhaps the only edition of the original story that's readable in this day and age. For that reason alone the book deserves its Caldecott Honor. June 6, 2005 The Ugly Duckling I read the book The Ugly duckling by Jerry Pinkney. The book is about a ugly duckling,everyone is mean to him. One day he got fed up with them so he ran away to a pond but there was a shoot off . So he immediately ran off. After awhile he came across a old ladies house. Her animals were mean to him so he went to a pond.In the winter he froze and a farmer gets him out.He did not like them either so he ran away. In the spring he finds out he is a wonderful swan. I enjoyed the book because I never heard the part when he got frozen. The theme is never be down about the way you look because you might look better when you get older. This book didn't have good word choice and all the words were easy I liked that.The conflict is he is ugly and everyone is mean to him.The illustrations were very full. the character is the ugly duckling. There are many different version. The intended audience is kids who are not beautiful so they don't feel bad about themselves. September 12, 2003 Great story, gorgeous illustrations This version of The Ugly Duckling is a great retelling of the classic story, with an enriched exploration of the Ugly Duckling's feelings and experiences. The illustrations are stunning. My three children, ages 3-5, are enthralled. And because of the nuance and complexity of the story, this will continue to be a family favorite for years to come. March 16, 2003 A duck that just wants to be accepted This story was about a duckling that was different from all the others when it was young. Everyone rejected him and didn't want him around just because he was ugly. They didn't even look at his other qualities that were inside him. The duckling tried to fit in in many places, but no one would let him stick around. Much like in life when people don't like other people because of how they look. You have to just try and look past looks and look down to the inside. You will find good qualities there no matter what. I think that you should accept everyone no matter how they look. Put yourself in the rejected person's shoes and just think of how you would feel if that were you. I think the author feels for real people that are not accepted. I think he probably feels pretty strongly about the subject. March 12, 2003 The Ugly Duckling ~ Hans Christian Anderson This book teaches a lot abou morals. Just becuase someone is alittle different from everyone else, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. Everyone is different in their own seperate way. Some people just show and others hide their feelings. People have differences, and no one is the same. Some of us just have to learn to accept it. And some have to realize we all are the same in some ways to. The ugly duckling is a duck who is the same as everyone else, yet is also different. He just wants to be accepted. He doesn't know how to make people like him. People were not accepting him becuase he was not good enough. Everyone seems to be 'not good enough' at one time or another. Yet other people do not realize this. I like this book because it explains how life goes. Some people aren't accepted because of their looks, other epople jsut need to learn to accept people for who they are. Not what they are not. You need to learn to look past the "bad" qualities and see the good qualities.
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