“How about The Ugly Duckling?” my six-year-old nephew said, pointing to a title in the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale book he’d chosen for his bedtime story. 

“That’s a good one!” I replied, flipping to page 107.

“I’ve heard of this story before, but never read it,” he said drowsily, lying back on his pillow.

I get to visit with my nephew a couple of times a year, and reading a bedtime story to him is my favorite part of every reunion. Several weeks ago, as I read the story of what essentially amounts to an emotionally abused, socially rejected ‘duckling’ who hatches from a weird egg and comes out gangly, grey, and huge compared to his adorably yellow, fuzzy brethren, I wondered how my tender-hearted nephew was receiving the message being conveyed. Because the ‘duckling’ was different, he lived his first year of life forsaken by his family and utterly lonely—a social outcast. But I knew that good times were ahead for this ungainly bird, because when he begins to grow into his not-a-duck-after-all identity, everything changes. . .