The Different Duckling (2021)

The Different Duckling was my final undergraduate University project. One where I could finally let loose and come up with a completely original idea. The prompt given to us was to create something personal, so I decided to create a story that had something related to Autism (me being on the spectrum myself), using an animal to represent that as animals appeal more to children and people on the spectrum. I went through many different animal ideas and concepts, one concept had a rabbit meeting up with a fox and befriending them, not recognising the danger, as much as I liked the idea, I couldn't think of a meaty middle part. I went through tons more concepts with a badger, a hedgehog, a horse etc. until finally deciding on ducks, not just because the location was more fun but also ducks especially ducklings are very curious creatures that consistently follow their mother, but what if one just wanted to sit on the riverbank all day playing rocks? And maybe he's judged for that by the rest of the river bank hierarchy (i.e. swans?).  The story came together the more I studied the ducks, geese and swans in the river outside my house, ducks seem like a close-knitted lot, the geese are always honking their beaks off (the gossipers) and the swans are swanking around with their bills in the air with an ''I'm better than you'' attitude. The more you study an animal the more their traits translate into the characters. I knew I wanted the swan to be the snooty one who antagonises the duckling for going against the natural order of things. Producing your first original book for children is both scary and exciting at the same time. Although it is very ''first book'' and some of the illustrations I'm not particularly proud of, after completing it I was very pumped up to do another one already and I knew exactly that this was what I wanted to do for a career, it's very rewarding and that's what makes this book special to me, because it was my first.