Clara
The (Mostly) True Story of the Rhinoceros who Dazzled Kings, Inspired Artists, and Won the Hearts of Everyone...While She Ate Her Way Up and Down a Continent
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
This fascinating, informative, and touching picture book by a Caldecott Medalist is based on the true story of an eighteenth-century rhino who toured Europe and started a sensation! Clara is a book sure to fascinate young animal lovers, history buffs in the making, and kids interested in geography, as they follow a rhinoceros on her journey across Europe.
In detailed illustrations, McCully shows Clara being introduced to Louis XV of France, Frederick the Great of Germany, and others willing to pay for a chance to stroke her soft lip. Her owner, a Dutch sea captain, keeps Clara fed (she eats 100 pounds of hay and 30 loaves of bread a day!) and watered (she drinks 14 buckets of water and beer) and takes loving care of her until her death 17 years later.
Winner of the National Parenting Product Award
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Nearly three hundred years ago, when half the world was still a mystery to the other half," a rhinoceros named Clara became the toast of Europe, thanks to her impresario, Captain Van der Meer. But this isn't the story of a ruthless entrepreneur and his exploited zoological curiosity. With elegant watercolor and ink drawings and flawless storytelling, McCully (Queen of the Diamond) immerses readers in an era of powdered white wigs ("hairdressers created the style la rhinoc ros") and tricorne hats while capturing a relationship that exemplifies absolute trust and unflagging devotion. Every day, Clara grows by 20 pounds and eats more than 100 pounds of food; moving her requires ever-bigger wagons, and, in one case, a custom-made raft. Yet this interspecies bond only deepens: Van der Meer dotes on his "Clarakin," and on page after page, Clara regards him with openhearted affection she is his eager collaborator to the very end. McCully calls this a "mostly" true story, and perhaps by strict historical standards, that's correct. But its emotional veracity is never in question. Ages 4 8.
