Monday 10 November 2014

Book Review - The story of Ferdinand

BOOK PICK OF THE WEEK - 10/11/2014

TITLE : The Story of Ferdinand
AUTHOR : Munro Leaf
ILLUSTRATOR : Robert Lawson
PUBLISHER : Penguin
AGE GROUP : 3+



          As the book says : This is the story of Ferdinand - a little bull who would rather sit and smell the flowers than fight in the bullring! This pretty much sumps up our story of Ferdinand.

          Ferdinand is a bull unlike his cousins. All his cousins played with each other, butted their heads, jumped etc. But Ferdinand didn't enjoy it. He would instead sit quietly and enjoy the nature besides him. His favorite spot was under a cork tree! Can you imagine a bull doing that? He liked to smell flowers. His mother becomes worried for he may become lonely. But she never coaxed him to do things differently because she was an understanding mother. Gradually, Ferdinand grows to become a very strong bull. So one day, some men come to select a bull for bullfighting. And because of some circumstances, they chance upon Ferdinand and select him. Now will he live up to his name and fight or just sit quietly remains to be seen or rather read!

          This book has a very sweet story and made me realize that sometimes we just need to do that! Stop everything and sit quietly. We are so engulfed in our routine that we have forgotten to admire nature and smell flowers which has given us so much.

          This story also tells us a lot about Spain and Bullfighting as a sport. Bullfighting is a very old sport practiced in Spain from ancient times. The author has smartly woven all the new vocabulary of bullfighting in the story itself thus, making the kids understand better rather than mentioning it in the glossary. Kids will learn many new words such as Matador, Picadores etc. In fact, the tail-end of the story is actually a description of how the game takes place!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Munro Leaf was an American author of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books and is best remembered for this book.

          Do read this book and let me know whether you liked the book or not. And while you are reading this story, don't forget to show some YouTube videos on bullfighting. Kids will be surely amazed!