My Never Ending List

I don’t know why I am drawn to this book. Perhaps it is the red and white cover or perhaps it is the bull on the cover nevertheless this is the first time I have read this book and it is a book from the 1930’s.  Amazing since I have kids that are in their 20’s and 30’s and I have never read this to any of them and I am a book nut.  Anyways, I picked this up at a library sale and inside all of the pictures are black and white which was strange since the cover is done in red. The story is about a bull who likes to smell flowers.  All the other bulls like to fight and butt horns but not Ferdinand. Oh no, he would prefer to spend his days smelling flowers even though his mother (a cow) tells him that he should play with the other bulls (she’s worried he will be lonesome).  Isn’t that a typical mother? But since he was happy she let him be. She was a great mother.  One day, the people from the city come looking for a bull for the bull fights in Madrid.  This is what all the other bulls have been working for – this is their dream.  As they are strutting around, Ferdinand sits on a flower which has a bee on it and he gets stung. You can imagine what Ferdinand does. He butts, snorts and puffs around as it hurts really bad! The city people see this and they think Ferdinand is perfect for the job. What!?!  Ferdinand is the least likely candidate for the position but he goes anyway.  It was a beautiful day, the day of the fights.  The ladies wore flowers in their hair, and everyone was ready for some violent bullfighting. They called out the Fierce Ferdinand.  What happened next?  Well, it was not what they expect but it was in Ferdinand nature what plays out in the arena.

I liked the pictures in the book and the message the book told was super.  Ferdinand was different than all the other bulls, no one made fun of him and his mother encouraged him to join the others but then when she saw that he was happy, she let him be himself which is a great message.  I liked how the book ended. It was a simple book.  Geared towards the lower grade school level, I believe.