The Ugly Duckling is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in 1843. In this story, a little duckling felt he was ugly his entire young life. He is picked on because he is rather plain looking while all of the other ducklings are yellow and pretty. The Ugly Duckling goes from place to place, never in one spot for long, because he cannot find a place he fits in. In the end, the swans show him that he is not a duck; he is, in fact, a beautiful swan. One of the important themes of this story is that personal transformation takes time. Marta Sesana, a young Italian artist, using her unconventional and unique approach interprets this Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale. Marta Sesana paints from the imagination, creating colorful characters that reference the cartoons of her youth as well as art-historical tradition. Her approach is painterly rather than illustrative, rendering her imaginary figures with expressive brush strokes that allow the colors to run. This  book is one of a set of books that combines the tradition of the classic fairy tale with the language of fresh contemporary art.