From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4–Using a Tasmanian setting for this retelling of Hans Christian Andersens The Ugly Duckling, Napoli has fashioned a witty and entertaining book. The duckling, called Ugly by his Pacific black duck siblings, is late to hatch and behaves strangely, but is sustained by his mother, who believes he is smart. Ejected from the duck colony after a severe pecking because he is different, Ugly sets off to find a friend. Many helpful animals, including a wombat and a golden bristletail possum, provide advice, warmth, and knowledge. They also alert him to dangerous predators such as a quoll, spurred platypus, and Tasmanian devil. Ugly also learns about humans when he encounters a family and an old woman who talks to herself and her pets. Humor lightens the story. Ugly meets teenage ganders that verbally and physically spar like egotistic adolescents, but the story takes a grim turn when the shocked duckling (surprising, too, for readers who may not be familiar with the original tale) witnesses their brutal slaughter by hunters. After a long and lonely year, Ugly discovers his true identity–he is a beautiful Australian black swan–and finds a home. Like Avis Poppy series (HarperCollins), this book is lush with details of the natural world and animal behavior and an elegant use of language. An excellent read-aloud.–Susan Hepler, formerly at Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 3-5. Napoli takes Andersen's familiar fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" and embroiders upon it to create a novel-length story. Told from the point of view of Ugly, the little bird who makes a most unpromising duck, the narrative begins as he listens through the shell as another duck berates his mother for trying to hatch a dark, silent egg that is so clearly a dud. Though the story follows the outline of the familiar tale, Napoli moves the setting to Tasmania and sends Ugly on a protracted land-based adventure in which he befriends indigenous animals, including a wombat, a wallaby, and a Golden Brushtail possum, while learning the meanings of terms such as nocturnal predator. Studded with information on Tasmanian fauna, this section seems overextended and a bit purposeful. Still, the book may interest children who enjoy novels based on fairy tales and remember the ugly duckling fondly. Judge's illustrations were not available for review in the galley. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
