The Story of Ferdinand

Have you heard of Ferdinand, the bull? I havent till I watched the movie "The Blind Side". In the movie, the character Leigh Ann (played by Sandra Bullock) reads The Story of Ferdinand to the male protagonist Michael Oher and compares him to Ferdinand the bull on a later stage. On watching the movie, I instantly added it to my Wish List and in less than a week, I had my own copy of the "The Story of Ferdinand" :-) Yeah..I know I am kind of impatient with stuff like this. But. I have to tell you - the book is totally worth it.

 As obvious from the title, the story is about Ferdinand, the bull who prefers sitting under his favourite cork tree and smelling flowers to fighting in the bull ring. While growing up, all the other bulls who grew up with him had only one dream - to be picked to fight at the bull fights in Mandrid when they grow up. So, they practised fighting and sticking each other with horns. But our hero Ferdinand just liked to sit quietly and smell flowers at his favorite spot in the pasture - under the cork tree. All the bulls grew big and strong and so did Ferdinand (I dont know how he became strong with all that lack of excercise. I should get the secret out of him he he.) One day five men came to choose the strogest, fastest, fiercest bull to fight in the bull fights in Mandrid.While all the other bulls were trying to show off their talents, Ferdinand. who couldnt care less,went to sit under his cork tree as usual. But, accidently he sat on a bumble bee and it stung Ferdinand. It hurt really badly and Ferdinand started running and puffing and snrting as if he had gone mad. The five men were really impressed with the sight and selected Ferdinand for the bull fight without realising the truth. On the day of the fight, Ferdinand the Fierce (as the men callled him) ran to the middle of the bull ring and all everybody in the fight got scared and the Matador was scared the most. The spectators were excited and anticipated a fierce fight. But, when Ferdinand reached the middle of the ring, he sat down and enjoyed smelling the flowers in the ladies' hair. Whatever the Matador and the rest of his team did, they couldnt provoke him and make him fight. So they had to take Ferdinand home and the author finished his story by saying

"For all I know he is sitting

there still, under his favorite

cork tree, smelling the flowers

just quietly.

He is very happy. "

I dont know about you, but, I think this is a happy ending. If you had expected some miracles like in movies that turns the softspoken hero to a ferocious fighter in a matter of moments, you would be disappointed. I feel this book is more about being yourself and being content, about taking the road less travelled. This book tells the kids that it is OK to be different. I really like the part that Ferdinand's mom, the cow, is very understanding. Though she worries in the beginning about Ferdinand's habits, once she understands that he is not lonely and is happy to be alone sitting under the tree, she stops pestering him. Hmm..May be I should learn from her.

And you wonder why in the movie Blind Side, Michael is being compared to Ferdinand? Coming from a very violent neighborhood, Big Mic is expected to be fierce and so he gets selected to the school's football team. So Leigh Ann gets surprised when he refuses to attack during the match. Thats when she realises that he is just like Ferdinand the bull. But unlike Ferdinand, Michael overcomes his nature when Leigh Ann convinces him that his team is his family and he has to protect his family from the opposing team. Thats what I call a filmy ending. Want to know more? Do watch "The Blind Side". A very inspiring movie.

Coming back to the book, this is a classic written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson. The illusrtations, though in black and white, are really cute. I really like the picture in which Ferdinand is looking at his height chart showing that he has grown really tall and strong. And the picture of Ferdinand sitting under the tree and relaxing makes you want to do the same..atleast I wish I could. Also, it is funny the way he has illustrated the cork tree. It is shown as if bottle corks are hanging from the tree. For a moment I thought thats how corks are made - silly me ;-) A google image search cleared everything. But that picture is good to get the kid understand what a cork tree is.

BTW, this book had been turned to an animated movie by Disney and had won the Oscars (1938) for best cartoon. You can find the video here. Also, there are lots of interesting facts about the book and its author can be found in Wikepedia.

So, thats it all about Ferdinand from me. I will be back with another book soon. Till then, Happy Reading.