DUCKLING

This magical fable of courage and difference continues after Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale leaves off.

Once upon a time, a mother duck discovers an unusual egg in her nest that hatches a very different sort of duckling. Gray and different, the “raincloud-duckling” is rejected by all the animals on the farm, including her mother. Her life is a landscape of both cruelty and kindness: Mocked by strangers, besieged by hunters and their dogs, greeted by friends (who are then lost), and rescued from the ice, she wanders in the wilderness alone before finally realizing that she, too is a thing of beauty. However, while the original fairy tale ends there, this one continues with a final twist as the raincloud-duckling—now the “raincloud-snow-white-duckling-swan”—grapples with ideas of trust, love, friendship, kindness, and belonging. At long last she emerges not a misfit, but rather a hero and adventurer, deciding that it is better to “risk cruelty if it also means taking a chance on kindness.” The silhouette-style art fills the margins of the story, occasionally expanding to emphasize important moments in the narrative. This story asks young readers to think about complexity—both of belonging and of how unkindness and forgiveness are possible.

“Who’s coming with me?” asks the brave duckling. Readers will.