This is a great way to introduce inclusiveness and diversity to young children. I really like that instead of using people or children to introduce this topic, African animals were used.

The Ugly Five is a nice story about the ugliest animals on the African Savanna. The Lappet-Faced Vulture, the Spotted Hyena, the Wildebeest, the Marabou Stork, and the Warthog are the animals who make up the ugly five. The Wildebeest starts out and is going along singing about how ugly she is and eventually meets up with the other ugly five animals. All of the ugly five sing about how they are the ugliest until they get to the bushes. When they get there they meet up with their babies who think that they are actually the 'lovely five' because the babies know who takes such good care of them. ( )

Art: Amazing
Storytime: Recommended (with caveat)

This picture book reads easy as the story chronicles the tale of five ugly animals. The lyrical and rhyming words are paired with beautifully drawn art that keeps the reader's interest. Only issue is that the story starts to feel drawn out near the end. For storytimes, reader might want to condense the story to keep tempo up. ( )

A picture book of a loved author that appealed to both my kids.

For a complete review, please click on the link below:

https://onerightword.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/the-ugly-five-julia-donaldson.html ( )