Rita's Rhino by Tony Ross - NO

Ross, Tony Rita’s Rhino, PICTUREBOOK, Anderson Press, 2014. $16.95. Content: G.  

When Rita asks her mother for a pet, she is told that they are awful and stinky, but that she can have a small one, and is presented with a flea, and then a tadpole.  Rita wants to choose her own pet, and goes to the zoo to look for one.  When the rhino complains about the rain, Rita takes him home, only to find he is a bigger problem than she expected.  The Rhino is unhappy, too.  

The illustrations in this book are wonderful, the story however, isn’t.  The way Rita contains the rhino while she is at school borders on abuse - she lodges his horn in the ground so he can’t roll over and then the children bounce on him at recess.  Not worth reading. 

EL  (K-3) - NO  Lisa LIbrarian