An awkward duckling does not fit in with his brothers and sisters. This little bird is made fun of and has to struggle through life without a great support system. However, the ugly duckling continues to push forward from the bullying of his fellow ducklings, the hunters, and cruel seasons. He survives and becomes a grateful swan. Students can create a story board to show the transformation of an ugly duckling to a graceful swan. 

Reading Level: Lexile AD820L

Grades: PreK-5th

The poor little bird did not fit in wherever it went. The little bird goes through various emotions and obstacles but overcomes. This book would be great to teach diversity and being friends with each other. Also, we can relate to the emotions the duckling felt. 1st grade really talks about emotion.

level: G

This series is begging for fresh covers and a grand rerelease. There's such a wave of fairytale retellings making the rounds in YA right now, and these offer a sharply insightful modern day variation with more chilling horror than sparkly princesses which seems like it'd be fresh and well received. They're pretty short reads, borderline novella, so maybe that's holding them back a little (and yeah, those covers *shudder*) but the human, social, and cultural insight explored through a sort of twisted magical frame is spot on. This one picks up on the ugly duckling primarily, with a dark hook centered around the idea of beauty - or ugliness - being skin deep vs. all the way through, and drawing from or contributing to its surroundings. Not to get too spoilery, but it almost heads into YA paranormal territory; not quite vampires, but shades-of. Murder and abuse and Carrie-like bullying abound in a depressed smalltown (southern?) America setting.

On the isolated island of North Uist, which is apparently off the coast of Scotland, there lives a man all by himself in a smallish house after running away from his assholish brothers and his neglectful parents to paint, dive for scallops, and be mostly a recluse, keeping to himself.

His four brothers, one of whom I hated on sight, all somewhat famous for some reason or other, hope to make a deal with a TV company to create a reality show a la Kardashians, but they can only get the deal if the 5th brother appears as well. Greg Ventura, gentle, kind giant, wants nothing to do with them or the TV show.

Poor Perry Goodwood (lulz at that last name), ambitious and fashionable, is sent by his boss to the island to convince Greg to come to London to participate. After a make-over, of course. He flies to Scotland and catches a boat to the island, and is then stranded at the port before being fortuitously delivered to Greg's doorstop, looking like a drowned rat. The team that was supposed to meet him to convince Greg to come to London is nowhere to be found, and Perry's boss is giving him a bunch of excuses.

Great start, amirite? City slicker meets backwoods grump, and opposites attract - excellent trope!

This book is full of cute and sweet and quirky, and as Perry slowly falls in love with the island and Greg, so does Greg fall for Perry. The setting is perfect, and rather well described, so much so that I felt like I was right there on the small island. There be heather and bogs and cold, cold lochs, and beautiful nature all around.

I really liked both Perry and Greg. Perry impressed me because despite his city roots, he really tried hard to fit in on the island, and he seemed so appreciative of everyone who gave a helping hand. He wanted to learn from Greg and experience island life for himself. Greg is a bit rough around the edges, and grumps a lot, but I could tell that this was mostly to protect himself. He was kind and gentle, if somewhat clueless on occasion. The chemistry between the two men was there from the start and truly believable. There are certain parameters for this series as far as on-page sexy times are concerned, and the author delivered within those parameters, but also managed to infuse a lot of emotional bonding outside of the bedroom scenes.

The locals on the island play a huge role in this book as well, and I just loved how the author gave them all unique personalities and characteristics. Dougie, Bridie, and Louisa were perfect in their roles, and I enjoyed especially Bridie's easy banter with Perry, and how she was ultimately... well, you read this for yourself.

The Scottish brogue comes across well in the writing, and I had no trouble reading the dialect.

Quirky. Cute. And utterly adorable. A perfect addition to the Dreamspun Desires series. I had a grand time reading it. The author did a fantastic job with the characters, the setting, and the pacing, giving us a really emotional romance between two men who are complete opposites at first sight, but turn out to both want the same thing after all.

Fabulous!!


** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. **

This book would inspire my students to wish and dream to be anything they want to be when they grow up. The ugly duckling went through moments of his life and felt unwanted and some of my students will feel this way. I think reading this book would give them the confidence they need to persevere through any hard time in their life. I would read the book to them and show them how to make a comic strip that we will use to track the ducklings progress. With each transformation, we will draw the ducklings situation until it reaches a swan in which he finally felt accepted by others. I think this book is directed towards 2nd grade and up because of the acceptance factor. The students in these ages and grades are trying to find themselves and where they belong in this world. I think this book would help with their self journey. The Lexile Level is 40L.