The Ugly Duckling by Violet Findley is a cute traditional book about a baby swan who was hatched near and believed to be a duckling. He tries to fit in with his family but they keep calling him ugly, so he soon leaves and tries to fit in with different types of birds. He gets told by all of them that he is ugly and not wanted by them and to leave. The ugly duckling soon finds himself with the swans but keeps his head down so that he is not picked upon and told to leave. He soon grows and has kept by himself until one day a swan comes up and asks why he is shy, when the ugly duckling tells him, he is told to look at himself and realizes that he is a beautiful swan.
This book is sad to me, for the simple reason that this ugly duckling is getting picked on and bullied just because others believe he is ugly.
You can use this book in the classroom by teaching about bullying and how its okay to be different. You could also draw or craft your own ugly duckling with different things.

summary: the ugly duckling was about a duck, or a swan (actually), that was hatched into the wrong family, and thought it was the most ugliest thing because everyone had abandoned it and also told it that it was ugly. the duckling was very lonely until one day he saw swans and thought it was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. he wanted to be with them but was afraid that he would get made fun of. then one day, another swan had told him that he was not ugly and to look at his reflection in the water. he then realized that he was a swan the whole time and was very happy.

personal: this was a very cute story. i enjoyed it. i felt bad for the duck.. it had no friends because noone wanted to be friends with an ugly duck.

classroom: this is a good book to tell the students that everyone is friends. this is another form of example to show the students that bullying is wrong.

Summary: This is the story of a duckling who is born and does not look as beautiful as the rest of its brothers and sisters. This duckling then leaves its family and tries to find another family that it would fit in with but struggles to find it. After spending most of its life being shy and thinking its ugly, it grows up to be a beautiful swan but does not realize it until another swan points the fact out.
Personal Reaction: I love this story because you can put so many different lessons with it. It is a classic story that can help build some self-confidence.
Classroom Extension: This story can be used to prove to the students that not everyone looks the same and everyone is beautiful in his or her own way. It can also be adapted to fit our times where so many families are mixed and blended. You can use it to show the students that even though everyone does not look the same, you can come together and blend just right.

Summary- There were five eggs that hatched on day, four were very cute, yellow, fluffy ducklings, the other was ugly. All the other ducks and birds made fun of the fifth duck for being ugly. He hid himself and cried all the time. One day, he realized that he was a beautiful swan. He was so happy and from there on, he was nice to everything.

Person Reaction- This is a good story in the sense that it shows you need to be nice to everyone no matter what they look like, but that is only shown from the "ugly ducklings" perspective. All the other things are cruel to him because he looks different. The actual book is had very nice pictures. It also has a little glossary at the back with a few words children might not know yet. I can relate to this story because I have an older brother. Growing up, him and his friends always picked on me.

Classroom Extension- Students can write down and discuss a time where they were made fun of and how that made them feel, so they can understand not to pick on each other.
Students be put into groups and pick a word from the glossary to explain to the rest of the class what it means.

Summary:
A mom duck laied five eggs and when they hatched there was four beauitful baby ducks. The last was an ugly duck. The other baby ducks picked and made fun of the ugly dick. He met some geese, herons, and some swans; they all said that he was ugly and told him to away. A few months, he relized that he was beautiful.
Personal Reaction:
This book was one of the few books that helped me relize that I was a beautiful person and it was ok for me to be different from other people.
Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. I would have my students draw a picture of how they see themselves.
2. I would have my students write about how they felt when I read the book to them. ( )