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

Week 2 Historical Fiction Picture Book 4:
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
Written and Illustrated By: Emily Arnold McCully
Published: 2016

I really did try with this book. I wanted to enjoy it so badly because the idea seemed so cute. It just didn't quite do it for me though after all of the incredible historical fiction books I have read this week. The idea is cute and the illustrations are great, but the writing fell a bit short for me. Yes, this is a historical fiction book, but the author took things a bit too far and it got to the point where it was like she had lived inside of Clara's head for six weeks and knew exactly what she was thinking and how she thought it. If it is supposed to be a historical fiction book, it should probably be written in a more realistic sense and last time I checked, scientists still have not figured out a way to read the minds of animals.

With that minor rant off my chest, let me move along to a brief overview of the story. A Dutch sea captain named Captain Van der Meer purchased an orphaned baby rhinoceros named Clara from his Indian friend. He decided to take a voyage around Europe and Asia to show Clara and make some money. Most of the story was spent discussing the different ways they needed to care for the rhino. Her skin dried out so they covered her with fish oil. She was too scared to climb onto the ship herself, so they had to create a lift system to hoist her on board. Most frequently, Clara just kept getting hungrier and hungrier, so they spent a lot of the story trying to figure out what to feed her. Together Van der Meer and Clara traveled all over the continent, stopping for artists to paint her, poets to write about her, and kings and queens to stare into her eyes with awe. For seventeen years, they traveled together, until Clara grew old and passed away. 

I will not be using this book in my classroom unless I am doing a lesson on Rhinoceroses. I would, however, recommend it to any student who shows an interest in ship life, sea travel, and obviously, rhinos. I am still so upset that this book did not live up to my expectations because I'm such a sucker for animal stories. If it were about twenty pages shorter, I think it would have been a bit more bearable. Grudgingly, I give this book 2.5 stars.