However, once upon a time (and maybe still), those who didn’t conform or help advance a nationalist agenda were considered dangerous. We see the book as a positive lesson in tolerance and a celebration of individual identity. Though most modern audiences fail to see danger in The Story of Ferdinand, it didn’t always have wide public admiration. It turns out that Ferdinand survived more than just the bullring from his creation in 1936, Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson’s most cherished character appeared as a controversial symbol during the Spanish Civil War and World War II before appearing across the media as an icon for peace. You would be hard-pressed to find a home in America without a copy of The Story of Ferdinand, but you might still be surprised by the full story of our beloved bull. Stalin granted the book special status as the only non-communist children’s book allowed in Poland.By Samantha Verini, Editorial Intern for Worlds of Words
In America, the book was interpreted by some as communist propaganda - but beloved by many others, including President Roosevelt who requested an official copy for the White House. When World War II ended, the British Air Transport Auxiliary used the phrase ‘Ferdinand the Bull’ as their call sign, to signal to European air controllers that they came in peace.ģ0,000 copies of the The Story of Ferdinand were distributed throughout Germany immediately after the war. In Nazi Germany, the book was burned as ‘degenerate propaganda’ along with countless other books and works of art. The book was banned in Spain for over 30 years following the Spanish Civil War. With war raging all over the world, many grown-ups saw quiet, peaceful Ferdinand as a symbol of Pacifism. Germany was a major aggressor in this war. World War II also began not long after the book’s publication, in 1939.
This war lasted three years and resulted in a military takeover of the country. Unfortunately, civil war broke out in Spain in 1936 - the same year that Ferdinand was published. He chose the setting simply because he had never seen a picture book about bull fighting. While The Story of Ferdinand is set in Spain, the book’s author, Munro Leaf, was American.
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