This slim paperback is part of a school series called Collins Big Cat. It’s described on the back cover as a ‘wordless traditional tale’ and it is, of course, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Ugly Duckling, first published in Denmark in 1843.

In this pictorial version, which is told in a mix of full-bleed images and bordered panels, a mother duck and her ducklings swim down the river to a farm, where Mum proudly shows off her babies to the animals.

But there’s a problem… One ‘duckling’ is different from the others. He is bigger, has darker-coloured down and a longer beak.

When the other ducks, hens and farm creatures see him they chase him away, leaving him alone and miserable.

The poor demoralised bird heads off to a remote spot on the river bank, where he looks up to admire a flock of beautiful swans flying overhead.

As he hides dejectedly in the reeds, a single feather drops from his down into the water.

Time passes and the seasons change. Leaves are blown off the trees as autumn arrives. and soon the winter frost is settling in.

Meanwhile our ugly duckling continues to grow. When spring arrives – as indicated by the brighter light and bluebells on the riverbank – he gazes at his reflection in the water and is delighted by what he sees: a fully grown swan.

The next time he visits the farm, the animals are impressed by the elegant creature gliding serenely on the river. Could it really be that ugly duckling they once all despised?

When the story is over, there’s a visual description of the life cycle of a swan, shown clockwise in five vignettes.

The final spread has notes and information for teachers and parents, written by literacy expert Clare Dowdall, with reading objectives and notes on language and communication development.

James Mayhew is a respected British author and illustrator who has written and illustrated his own books – the Katie and Ella Bella series, Once Upon a Tune and most recently (November 2024) A Symphony of Stories. He has also illustrated for other authors such as Jackie Morris, Joyce Dunbar and Zeb Soanes, and regularly presents classical concerts where he paints to music.

Readers will be interested to see some of Mayhew’s early storyboard sketches for The Ugly Duckling, shown in a 2012 blog post on his site (see link below). He says he really enjoyed ‘the challenge of creating a narrative entirely through pictures, and in only 12 pages (6 spreads)’.

Not only does Mayhew depict a beautiful rural landscape in The Ugly Duckling, but he also creates distinctive characters with believable emotions. These are shown both through the animals’ expressive faces and through their body language. For instance the rejected duckling is illustrated with his head bent, his wings drooping and a single tear sliding down his beak. These elements of the storytelling should ‘speak’ to a young child (who may well know what it feels like to be rejected by their friends) and they echo the emotional resonance of Andersen’s original moving tale of transformation and, ultimately, hope.

Also available in this series is another wordless tale, The Owl and the Pussycat, a version of Edward Lear’s nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, first published in 1870.