The Story of Ferdinand

I'm sure most if not all of us have heard the story of Ferdinand the bull, and if not you may want to pay close attention!

Leaf, Munro. The Story of Ferdinand. Copyright 1936, The Viking Press.

This story is about a very independent bull named Ferdinand.  He never partook in any adventures and games with all the other little bulls.  He would rather stay to himself, sit under a cork tree and smell the flowers.
Ferdinand's mother started to become worried that he would become too lonely, but he would just say "I like it better here where I can just sit quietly and smell the flowers."  She understood, and let him do just that.
As the years passed, he had become a very big and strong bull.  All the other bulls he grew up with wanted to be picked for the bull fights in Madrid, but not Ferdinand.
It wasn't until his first encounter with a bumble bee where his size and strength were finally noticed by five men.  They were in search of the largest/toughest bull around, and when it came to Ferdinand, they liked what they saw.
They called him Ferdinand the Fierce, but that didn't last long.  During his first "fight" Ferdinand did nothing but sit and stare at the audience.  Who was he kidding?  He didn't want to be apart of all that.  He found himself happy back under the cork tree smelling flowers, being himself.

Intended Readers: Ages PreK-2

I thought this book was a great introduction to teach students about valuing themselves as an individual.  Ferdinand wouldn't have been happy trying to be something he was not.  No child should ever have to do something just to be something that they aren't.

*This story has many great resources to use, two of which I have included.

Here's the Disney version of this classic story which won the 1938 Academy Award for best short animated film:

Here's another version, in American Sign Language available to those who may be hearing impaired: