Munro Leaf

Birth : 1905-12-04, Hamilton - Maryland - USA

Death : 1976-12-21

History

William Munro Leaf was the author of some thirty popular books for children. During his lifetime, "The Story of Ferdinand" (1936), his tale about a Spanish bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in the ring, was translated into over sixty languages, including Twl, Ga, Fanti and Ewe in Africa. Leaf received his master's degree at Harvard after graduating from the University of Maryland. He taught preparatory school for a numbers of years before becoming editor and director of the New York publishing house F. A. Stokes. Later Leaf would make a number of trips abroad as a cultural representative for the US State Department. William Munro Leaf died of cancer at his home in Garret Park, Maryland, on 20 December, 1976. He left behind his wife, the former Margaret Pope, and two sons. - IMDb Mini Biography By: John F. Barlow

Movies

Ferdinand

Author

Ferdinand, a little bull, prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree just smelling the flowers versus jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow, but one day five men come to choose the "biggest, fastest, roughest bull" for the bullfights in Madrid and Ferdinand is mistakenly chosen. Based on the classic 1936 children's book by Munro Leaf.

Ferdinand

Book

A Child Went Forth

Writer

A line from Whitman, "There was a child went forth every day," starts this film: a visit to a farm that's a summer camp and progressive school for exploration and discovery. The children, as young as two or three, have room and time to question, wonder, and learn. We build a wading pool, use tools, climb and swing, bath a dog - and learn to live together. There are spats, and little adult interference. A tree house sparks children's imagination. They visit a neighboring farm, play with the animals and ride on a tractor that's plowing. They eat and nap. There's story time, easels for art, and a lollipop. It's the perfect place for city children to be safe from bombardment, says the narrator.

Ferdinand the Bull

Novel

This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.