The flower-sniffing bull was the inspiration for a wartime surveillance group in the land down under.
by Rich Watson
The Story of Ferdinand was a 1936 book by Munro Leaf, with illustrations by Robert Lawson. Life magazine called it “the greatest juvenile classic since Winnie the Pooh.” At one point it outsold Gone With the Wind.
It came out during the Spanish Civil War and on the verge of World War 2. Some interpreted the children’s book within those contexts.
The book’s success, however, inspired Allied forces in Australia in the battle against fascism.
