Author: Munro Leaf

Grades: Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd

Synopsis: Young Ferdinand the bull does not enjoy butting heads with other young bulls, preferring instead to lie under a cork tree smelling the flowers. One day, five men come to the pasture to choose a bull for the fights. Ferdinand is again on his own, sniffing flowers, when he accidentally sits on a bumblebee. Upon getting stung as a result, he runs wildly across the field, snorting and stamping. Mistaking Ferdinand for a mad and aggressive bull, the men rename him “Ferdinand the Fierce” and take him away to Madrid. However, when Ferdinand is led into the ring, he is delighted by the flowers in the ladies’ hair and lies down in the middle of the ring to enjoy them. The Banderilleros were mad, the Picadores were madder, and the matador was so especially mad that he started crying. Ferdinand is then taken back to his pasture, where to this day, he is still smelling flowers.

Debrief Questions:

• How does Ferdinand feel about being different from the other bulls? Does he care about what they might think?
• What’s something different about yourself that you’re proud of?