Hello, I'm Richard Nicholas Nimz, prospector of the written word, and now it's time for a classic picture book. This is another of the books everyone's heard of, and it's more likely they've read it or at least knows the story. I knew the story of this book even before I read it because I remembered the Disney adaptation I'd seen as a kid. This is The Story of Ferdinand.
Leaf, M. (1936). The story of Ferdinand. New York, NY: Puffin Books
Summary: Long ago in a city in Spain, young bulls fight each other to eventually make their way into the famous Spanish bullfights. However, one of them, Ferdinand, is more peaceful (and possibly aware of what happens to bulls that participate in a bullfight), only interested in sitting under a cork tree and smelling the flowers. However, he grows up to be the strongest of all of them, and when an ill-timed bee sting paints him as the roughest of bulls to the bullfighters, he quickly gets sent off to fight in the ring. However, the truth comes out in the end, and Ferdinand is sent home to live a peaceful life.
Impressions: This is a good read, but it might rankle a few people with how it sanitizes bullfighting. Then again, the bullfighters are as close to antagonists as the story gets. I sort of wish that the author had spelled out that the bull dies at the end of the fight, because this reads sort of like the stories of martyrs belonging to my own Catholic faith, who died rather than break their moral code (although this story has a less fatal ending). Then again, that would ruin the lighthearted mood. The prose is good and the illustrations, while black-and-white, have a slightly stylized look that is charming to look at. In short, I think it's worthy of the #17 spot on Elizabeth Bird's top 100 picture books.
Use: Again, I first heard about this story because of the Disney cartoon. Thus, an easy use of this book is as part of an event related to Disney's adaptations of various stories. This could represent one of the more faithful adaptations while The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker and Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio could represent looser adaptations. There could be an event where people could write out what they would change in the story. Another possible idea could be the theme of applicability, since I connected this story with the stories of Catholic martyrs. Maybe kids could see deeper meanings in various stories and movies than the author intended.
Source: Bird, E. (2012, Jun. 14). Top 100 Picture Books #17: The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson -- @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/06/14/top-100-picture-books-17-the-story-of-ferdinand-by-munro-leaf-illustrated-by-robert-lawson/#_
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