FERDINAND COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU!

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Fox and the creators of ICE AGE have adapted Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand. The movie has an amazing cast of characters with Ferdinand being played by the one and only John Cena - sure to be a selling point to our kids! Once again I will get on my soapbox and ask you to read the book first! What I can see from the trailers is that they take themes from the original book and embellished them.
I have read the Munro Leaf book to hundreds of children and they love the story. It's a reflective, quiet and touching story. Nearly all of my classes that I read the book with also acted it out in Reader's Theater and we were all amused by the 1938 Academy Award winning short cartoon by Disney that you can also watch here.

The Story of Ferdinand is listed as one of the best children's books of all time and not only allows us to not judge a "book or bull" by it's cover but to accept people for who they are. I also make paper flowers with the students that they can keep. They mimic Ferdinand smelling the flowers.

The movie is coming out at a perfect time for the holidays but why not take a few minutes and read the original book first. Students are often hesitant at first when they see the black and white illustrations but they are quickly captured by the story. We also discuss his understanding mom,  bull fights and find the country of Spain on the map. 

CHOOSE KINDNESS!

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I've made a few tweets and Facebook posts about the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio and the movie that opens November 17th. Wonder is a fabulous book and the movie looks like it will be similarly fantastic. Those who know me know that I'm a huge fan of reading the book first but you can still check out the movie trailer below. This is a great family read (20 minutes a day!) and perfect for an upper elementary and/or lower middle school class. Ultimately Wonder is a great book that anyone at any age will love.