This book tells the story of Clara, the famous rhino, with her captain. This story was so heartwarming. I love how the captain at first got Clara for show and to gain money. But he had grown to love her. I was afraid that when someone wanted to buy her, he was going to sell her for her own good. But they remained hopeful. The last page of the book when she died was touching. It can teach kids the importance of a relationship between humans and animals! ( )

Clara is a wonderful story about a rhino from India who was sold to a European merchant that showed her beauty to people all over the continent. I loved all of the beautiful illustrations that alternated between several tiny images on each page, and also big wide images that take up the entirety of both pages. The artistic choices in this book made it easy to follow the action that was taking place. This was an imaginative tale that showed how different lands could be back in history when travel and communication was more difficult. I really loved both the relationship between Clara and the Captain. It was apparent that they loved each other and it was admiral how the Captain worked really hard to make sure that Clara was happy. I also loved the different countries that this book takes you through. It was nice to see a brief look into what each country is like in Europe. ( )

Caldecott medalist Emily Arnold McCully sets out the story of Clara, an orphaned Indian rhinoceros who, in the 18th century, was purchased by a Dutch sea captain, and then toured with him for seventeen years throughout Europe. The first of her kind to be seen by most Europeans, Clara was a sensation - praised and studied by everyone from royalty to peasant. Portraits were painted, and people of all walks of life lined up for a chance to gaze into her eyes. Finally, after many years as the beloved companion of Captain Van der Meer, Clara closed her eyes, having introduced the wonder of her species to an entire continent...

Both engaging and informative, 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! is an excellent work of imaginative non-fiction for younger children. It's sometimes easy to forget in our contemporary world, a world in which information about far-flung parts of the globe, and the animals that live in them, is readily available, that once upon a time knowledge of distant lands and species was quite limited, and very difficult to obtain. McCully's book highlights just how wondrous and magical it must have seemed to the peoples of Europe, glimpsing their first rhinoceros. Many of them would have considered such an animal mythological, before their first glimpse of a real live specimen. McCully also manages to capture the real bond that (possibly) existed between Captain Van der Meer and Clara, so much so that I found myself tearing up a bit at the conclusion of the tale, as the rhino lay on her deathbed. Pairing an illuminating, poignant, thought-provoking text with immensely appealing, expressive illustrations, this is a picture-book I would recommend to young animal lovers, and to anyone looking for children's stories about the expansion of human knowledge about our animal kin, in previous centuries. ( )