Happy Birthday, Ferdinand! — What’s In a “Simple” Children’s Book?
THE STORY of FERDINAND
TURNS 90!
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson was published in September 1936 by Viking Press.
It has never been out-of-print!
What could be in a children’s book that would make it captivate readers, young and old, for 90 years;
and also
raise the ire of dictators and Fascists;
and
become an award-winning Disney classic?
I DID NOT DISCOVER The Story of Ferdinand UNTIL I WAS INVOLVED IN THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT IN THE EARLY 1970s.
It was on a list of feminist books for children, so, as a teacher and a parent, I readily purchased it for my two young sons. They thoroughly enjoyed the story.
and I?
I fell in love with the story of Ferdinand, the reluctant bull.
It is still one of my favorite books!
At that time in the 1970s—and even today (at least until I began research for this post), I saw this story in one dimension—as having a counter cultural message.
To me, it clearly was a parable of sorts, critical of the way society socializes boys and men to embrace toughness and violence as the way boys should be boys—and real men should be men.
Today, we would refer to this type of socialization as “toxic masculinity.”
~~~
Now, while researching for this post, I have found some other nuances to the story.
Brief summary of the book:
The Story of Ferdinand is about a young gentle bull who does not want to fight the way other young bulls in his field do.
The story opens this way:
“Once upon a time in Spain there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand.
All the other little bulls he lived with would run and jump and butt their heads together,
but not Ferdinand.
He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers.”
He had a favorite spot out in the pasture under a cork tree. It was his favorite tree and he would sit in its shade all day and smell the flowers.”
Sometimes his mother, who was a cow, would worry about him. She was afraid he would be lonesome all by himself.
“Why don’t you run and play with the other little bulls and skip and butt your head?” she would say.
But Ferdinanc would shake his head. “I like it better here where I can sit just quietly and smell the flowers.”
His mother saw that he was not lonesome, and because she was an understanding mother, even though she was a cow, she let him just sit there and be happy.
As the years went by Ferdinand grew and grew until he was very big and strong.
The story goes on to tell how Ferdinand never wanted to fight.
But when an unfortunate event occured—that event being stung by a bee—it caused him to have an over-the-top violent reaction in the sight of bull fighter recruiters who had come to choose the next most ferocious bull to be the one to face the matador in the bullring in Madrid.
The recruiters misjudged Ferdinand.
With his gentleness hidden under his violent response to the pain of the bee sting, he was perceived to be ferocious.
And so he is hauled off to the bull ring to fight.
The story takes us, the reader into the bullring.
We meet the arrogant matador.
And, having been let in on the secret of Ferdinand’s true nature, we readers have a heads-up on what happens next
:
And so the story goes on:
“Then came the bull,
and you know who that was don;t you?
~Ferdinand.”
The true Ferdinand shows up in he bullring arena and he refuses to fight.
The bullfight becomes a fiasco.
And so, the fictional Ferdinand gets to go back home to his cork tree.
Munro Leaf writes in the final pages: “And for all I know, he is sitting there still, under his favorite cork tree, smelling the flowers just quietly.
He is very happy.”
Sad Fact: The tale, however, is based on a real gentle bull , but one that did not have such a happy ending to his story.
A Wikipedia account tells us:
According to a documentary from Sweden, where the Disney film is shown every year on Christmas Eve [within a Disney special], the story has a basis in truth.
A peaceful bull named Civilón was raised on a farm outside Salamanca in the early 1930s, and the Spanish press campaigned for it to not have to meet its fate in the bull-fighting arena.
It was pardoned mid-fight, but when the Spanish Civil War broke out days later, it never lived to see its home.
~~~
On the occasion of its upcoming 90th anniversary, The New York Times Book Review featured the book this way on June 5, 2026:
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Ferdinand the Bull, Reluctant Culture Warrior
As the gentle giant who just wanted to live his best life turns 90, Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson’s classic fable is as apt as ever.
Sadie Stein was the reviewer. She raised the question:
“What was it about this fable of a gentle giant who just wanted to live his best life — and was celebrated for it — that captivated readers?“
She ventured this analysis:
“In the late 1930s, in the shadow of the Spanish Civil War and the growing clouds over Germany, a lot.”
“Ferdinand’, she stated, “was a 1930s Rorschach test: sinister or benign, fascist or communist, subversive or patriotic. Or just a lovely story about animals and loners choosing their own paths”.
~~~
Reactions to the book?
Stein says,
“Franco’s regime saw no ambiguity; it deemed the book…openly pacifist …and, as such, banned it until his death. Hitler, true to form, termed it “degenerate democratic propaganda,” and ordered that it be burned.
“It received,” she said, “particular praise from Thomas Mann, H.G. Wells, Mahatma Gandhi, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and others”
Following the 1945 defeat of Germany during the Second World War, 30,000 copies of the Story of Ferdinand were quickly published and given out for free to that country's children.
In the United States, the book was so popular with the public in the 1930s that it was used in various commercial products.
The book's first run by Viking Press in 1936 sold 14,000 copies at a dollar each. The following year saw sales increase to 68,000. By 1938, the book was selling at 3,000 per week and that year it outsold Gone With the Wind to become the number one best seller in the United States.
Disney made it into an animated short in 1938 and it became a classic, winning the that year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Eighty years later in 2017, a feature-length computer-animated movie, Ferdinand, was released by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky.
~~~
While there are some other themes that I learned to see as I researched critiques of the story for this post, I believe that my initial take on the book—as a counter-cultural piece that addresses the damaging socialization of boys and men toward violence—is the best assessment of it.
Some salient other themes in the 1936 book, The Story of Ferdiand:
Nonconformity and Individuality: While Ferdinand is a non-conformist, he is so only because he prioritizes his inner joy over conforming to crowd pressure, the type of pressure that included male expectations of toughness.
A BULL WHO TAUGHT US TO BE OURSELVES
The Story of Ferdinand offered [our] readers a powerful lesson about the courage to be different—showing that true strength comes from staying authentic to yourself.
—from Jumpstart Kids
Pacifism and Nonviolence: Ferdinand refuses to participate in violence. The story quietly subverts the glorification of fighting, particularly focusing on the bullfight. It denigrates the societal practice (most often found in the world of men) of praising cruel games and making them look exciting or brave.
Parental Acceptance: At first, Ferdinand's mother worries that he will be lonely because he acts differently, but ultimately .she accepts him when she realizes he is happy being himself.
In the 2017 film, however, Ferdinand’s mother is gone, and in her place is his dad who dreams of being chosen for the bullfight in Madrid. When Ferdinand tells him that this is not his dream, his dad counsels him that he will change his mind one day.
Other views similar to mine—the challenge to the patriarchal socialization of boys and men.
Raising Ferdinands
Dec 21, 2017
by Payson Schwin
Podcast: Medium
…I expose my son to all the right lessons about manhood. Through the gentle Ferdinand, we learn it’s about having the confidence to be different, being brave enough to remain peaceful within a violent culture, and showing the strength to remain true to your beliefs despite the cost.
Men are behaving badly these days. Sure, this has been the case for most of human history, but lately a whole new level of masculine misbehavior has been exposed.
Ferdinand offers an alternative to this toxic masculinity. He’s a sensitive bull, content with being by himself. While his stereotypically male bull friends are off snorting and butting their heads together, Ferdinand sits under his favorite cork tree, quietly smelling the flowers. In the parlance of today, he’s mindful.
We need to raise fewer men who are vain, petulant, conceited, and cowardly like the matadors, violent like Ferdinand’s bull friends, or greedy like the bullfight promoters.
2. Why You Should Take Your Kids to See Ferdinand
Three lessons about positive masculinity from the movie.
by Elizabeth J. Meyer, Ph.D.
Posted December 30, 2017
Not only was the story [in the 2017 film “Ferdinance”] engaging, funny, and powerful, but it included important messages for youth – boys in particular -- about individuality, caring, and being gentle. This is a message that many boys aren’t often offered….
[H]ere are the three themes I noticed that emphasize aspects of positive masculinity that you might want to talk about with your kids after seeing the film:
First: there is strength in kindness, and boys/men can resist violence and earn respect by being gentle and firm. Ferdinand is forced into the bull-fighting arena against his will. The way he manages this challenge and succeeds without using his size or his strength is worth talking about.
Expectations around body size and physical strength cause real issues for many boys and men and we need to help them learn that they don't have to rely on these to be respected.
Some conversation starters might be:
Why do you think Ferdinand acted the way he did?
Have you ever felt like you were being forced to do something you didn’t want to?
What ideas can you take from Ferdinand that might help you in a similar situation?
How can you stand up for yourself and others when you aren’t bigger or stronger than those around you?
Second: take pride in your strengths, whatever they may be. Ferdinand, although he is big and strong, doesn’t want to fight – he prefers the beauty and peace of gardening and smelling flowers. These are things that aren't usually associated with masculinity.
Some things you can talk about with your kids might include: Why do you think Ferdinand doesn’t want to fight?
What are some of Ferdinand’s strengths?
What makes him lovable?
What makes him a good friend?
Is it hard for him to go against what the other bulls want him to do? Why?
How does he manage to let his individuality shine?
What creative ways can you respond to peer pressure using your own strengths?
Third: There are many ways to be a boy/man in the world; figure out who you are and “you do you”.
Near the end of the film, Ferdinand gives this wonderful advice to Valiente. In the face of uncertainty, Valiente thinks that Ferdinand wants everyone to become like him.
However, Ferdinand corrects him and says he just wants them to know that there’s more to being a bull than being a fighter.
Some ways you can explore this with kids is to ask them about messages they have gotten about how boys and girls (or Latina/os, or African Americans, or any other group that gets put in a box) should act.
Ask them to make a list of ideas of “boy things” and “girl things.” With this list, ask them where they learned these ideas and what would happen if they didn’t follow the list?
It is an interesting opportunity to learn what influences are shaping our children’s ideas and an opportunity to help them learn what a stereotype is, and then how to question and critique these stereotypes in order to have the strength and knowledge to be true to yourself.
Pine Reads Review
Blog
3.Cut the Bull, and Express Yourself! | Ferdinand Pt. 3
March 28, 2018
PRR Writers, Sierra Jackson and Cheyenne Lopex
…now it’s time to talk about why boys can’t cry. More importantly, it’s time to talk about being true to yourself. Our protagonist, Ferdinand or Ferd, has no problems breaking societal norms—animal norms?—when he chooses smelling flowers over fighting in the ring.
Being different causes Ferd a lot of problems, and those problems are rooted mainly in toxic masculinity.
Short and sweet to the point, toxic masculinity is the driving force behind the idea that boys shouldn’t cry. It’s the idea that boys and men should strive to be alpha-males….
At the end of the day, it is [Ferdinand’s] self-acceptance of who he is, of staying true to himself, that wins the crowd and the matador over, and saves his life that day in the ring.
4. THE END OF PATRIARCHY: MANIFESTO FOR A NEW MYTHOLOGY
Full Text — Open Dissertation
Dissertation presented to the faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Human Science
by Jean C. Ballantyne, 2015, Californiaa
90th ANNIVERSAY EXHIBIT AT THE ERIC CARLE MUSEUM Amherst, MA
The special 90th-anniversary exhibition, UNDER THE CORK TREE: THE STORY OF FERDINAND is currently on view at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. It opened on May 9 and will run through November 8, 2026.
Exhibits:
The 40-Minute Manuscript: It has been said that Munro wrote the story in 40 minutes on a yellow legal pad for his friend, the artist Robert Lawson.
Original Masterpieces: Robert Lawson’s complete suite of 37 delicate, original black-and-white pen and ink drawings.
Disney & The Ferdinand Craze: The exhibit features animation cels from Walt Disney Studio’s 1938 Academy Award-winning short film, alongside vintage 1930s merchandise like wind-up toys, board games, and memories of the giant Ferdinand balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
My Conclusion:
If Ferdinand could make it to 90 and the book has never been out of print…well, then, that is saying something!
It is saying something about the character value that Ferdinand evokes—be it courage to be your own person, having the stamina to not cave in to the crowd (such as, males always like violence and fighting), favoring peacefulness, anti-violence, and gentleness.
If so many generations and cultures have loved Ferdinand for the sweetheart that he is (in the story)—and that dictators saw fit to ban the book—then, I dare say that there is hope for all of us now in the dark days, in which we are now living globally.
The main message of Ferdinand is to stay true to yourself and choose gentleness over violence.
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