The Surprise Family

I hadn't remembered this story from last year, but almost started crying as my first graders read it today. It's about an egg discovered by a boy who then raises the chicken that hatches. Later she builds a nest and the boy puts a clutch of abandoned eggs in it for her to care for. As the babies get older they venture out into a pond and the mother chicken realizes they are not like her, they are ducklings. She never stops loving them, or they her. It really choked me up seeing her adopted by the boy, and the ducklings adopted by her. There are lots of loving mothers in the world, now if we can just get them matched with all the babies that need a mommy.