Goofy, creative, and cute! ( )

Prev. ed. publ. under name of 'Uncle Shelby' ( )

This book is about a little kid who is selling his rhinoceros and is tells about how great he is as a pet and how he is good around the house and is quite as a mouse. This would be fiction because the key idea is selling the rhinoceros so he talks about all of the great things the Rino is good for. ( )

Summary: This poem starts describing a very cute rhinoceros for sale. The rhinoceros is sweet, fat, and huggable and as quiet as a mouse. Then it goes on to describe all of the ways he could be useful around the house, such as eating bad report cards before your parents see them and being a perfect jump rope partner.

Personal Reactions: This is such a cute story with great illustrations. Some of the lines made me sad, like the line about the rhinoceros being good to yell at because of the picture of a crying rhinoceros. Shel Silverstein was a big part of my childhood and I liked reading this as an adult.

Classroom Extensions: 1. This could be incorporated with a lesson plan about Shel Silverstein.
2. I would have the kids write a journal entry about what animal they would love to have as a pet and how that animal would help them around the house.
3. I think this is an excellent addition to a lesson plan on poetry. ( )

This is a cute little book about if you had a rhinoceros for a pet. Shel Silverstein has quite the imagination of all the good and bad things you can do with a rhinoceros. His illustrations are essential into understanding each part of the text. I enjoyed this book very much. I found myself laughing at some of these ridiculous reasons for having a rhinoceros for a pet. ( )