101 Books, Number 93

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

93: The Story of Ferdinand, 1936, by Munro Leaf (1905–76)

Oh, Ferdinand, you puzzled me

Back in my wishful boyhood days:

You will not fight? Such amity?

No wish to gore? (I’m in a daze!)

You sniffed the flowers, so I read,

And had no real desire to fight.

Oh, not to fight! To sniff instead!?

Well, something really wasn’t right!

Or so my boyhood self declared

While reading this pacific tale.

I later realized he cared

About all lives, what they entail.

So Ferdinand’s a tale of hope—

The hope that we can get along—

Can with all differences cope—

Convert all human scream to song. 

*film is coming out in a few days—link to trailer