Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros A True Story
Written by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by Claire Messer
Beach Lane Books
40 pages
Reading Level: Ages 4–8
ISBN: 978-1-481-46703-2
Meet Clara the world-traveling rhino in this adorable picture book based on the fascinating true story of how, in the late 1700s, she showed the world that big animals aren’t scary beasts but noble and intelligent creatures.
Clara the rhinoceros was born in India in 1738. When she was orphaned as a baby, a kind Dutch merchant took her in. But, as Clara grew bigger and bigger, it was clear she needed a new home. A visiting sea captain had an idea: If he brought Clara to Europe, people all over the world could see how wonderful she was!
And so, Clara left her home, and she and Captain Van der Meer became a kind of family. They traveled all over by carriage, boat, road, and river. Clara met kings and queens, merchants and farmers, artists and scientists, and, along the way, forever changed the way people thought about her species and other large animals of the land, sea, and sky.
Reviews
A sweet historical tidbit.
The wild and wacky true story of an eighteenth-century rhinoceros’ improbable journey through Europe.
Clara and the History of Fantastic Beasts
in 1741, when Captain Douwe Mout van der Meer brought Clara to Amsterdam from India, most people in Europe only knew about the rhinoceros from a mention in the Bible or from a fanciful illustration made by Albrecht Dürer in 1515. So many different animals were imagined to live far from Europe.
Unicorns? Krakens? Searhinos? Others?
Stories got told about what animals were terrible enemies of other animals. Horses and lions. An elephant versus a rhinoceros.
In the 18th century, big changes were happening. Many people refused to accept that they could only get knowledge through what they were told by other humans like powerful religious leaders or kings. They wanted to observe and test and find things out for themselves. One of the first images of Clara was on the cover of a book with a real human skeleton. She was taken around Europe for 17 years and became a celebrity everywhere, surprising and impressing those who saw her, including Empress Maria Theresa, whose son was painted looking at a book with a rhinoceros inside.
Celebrate science and those who are working to save rhinoceros lives around the world through this book.
A Look Inside the Book
