Title: Remy the Rhino Learns Patience
Written and Illustrated by: Andy McGuire
Format: Hardcover
Published by: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN: 978-07369-2773-4
This Edition Published: 2010
Suggested Retail Price: US $16.99/Canada $12.99
Approximate Reading Time: 4 minutes
Summary
"Remy the Rhino Learns Patience" is the story of a very short-tempered rhinoceros who charges and yells at other animals who bother him. Nobody is safe from the wrath of Remy. One day, an aardvark trips over Remy's toes while he naps. Instead of running as Remy begins to charge, she waits till the last moment, jumps out of the way and causes Remy's horn to get his horn stuck in the trunk of a tree. This situation makes him extremely angry but the aardvark has a solution: she will get her termite friends to eat around Remy's horn till he's free. But, Remy has to stay quiet and still while they work or else they will get scared and it will take longer for him to get out. So, as the termites slowly eat away at the tree, Remy is forced to endure all sorts of indignities including leopard graffiti and being perched upon by birds. By the time he is freed, Remy has learned how to relax.
Review
From time to time, we all need a lesson in patience. This is a wonderful story to read aloud when someone in the family (maybe even mommy or daddy) is feeling a little short-tempered.
For the first half of the book, Remy is angry and impatient and just downright rude. Andy McGuire does an incredible job of making his audience understand Remy and his temper in a mere 8 pages of text and illustration. By the time the aardvark arrives on the scene, we were all pretty concerned for his welfare.
As Remy waits to be freed by the termites, several quite funny scenarios are pictured and they serve to both entertain (the girls loved the picture of the leopard drawing pictures on Remy's hide) and help the reader understand that Remy had to stand there and be quiet and calm for a long, long, long, LONG time. The illustration on the final page shows the rhino grazing with a couple of zebras (who he charged at the beginning) and we close the book knowing that life on the savanna will be a lot more peaceful now.
The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous. They are soft but detailed and realistic looking while retaining the touch of whimsy that is required to keep the attention of small children. These drawings made me want to run out and take an art class.
The text in this book rhymes. I have said before that I love a book with a rhyme and this is no exception. I know that Daniel (15 months) will listen to an entire book if it has a rhythm but will not get through many pages of a book written in prose. Jillian (4) will also listen longer if a book rhymes. For the most part, the rhymes in this book are very good but there are two or three that don't quite match up. It doesn't deter from the story but I do think you might want to read it to yourself once or twice to get your mind and tongue around how to make "grunted" work with "wanted". Otherwise, if you are like me, you might do a bit of a double take at those parts and break the spell that the story is casting. A mild mispronunciation like you have to do in many an Ogden Nash poem will make it work just fine.
I like how this story shows that being impatient can have the opposite effect from the one you were hoping for. Often times, my kids get impatient because they want things to move along at a faster pace. Seeing Remy be stuck in a tree for such a long time for such a silly reason, helped them to see what I've been trying to tell them all along, that if you can be calm and patient, things seem to go more smoothly. And that even if they don't, a calm attitude can make a situation seem a lot less grueling.
We have read this book frequently since we got it and I suspect we will be reading it for years to come. In fact, I have found myself quoting the last little bit of the book when nerves start getting frayed around here. Only two or three other books have made it onto my list of quotables so this is a grand achievement indeed ("Jillian Jiggs" and "Never Tease a Weasel" are two I love to prattle off whenever I get the chance)! Do you have any books you know by heart or quote to your kids to remind them of a way to behave (or just because you love it)?
Available Online:
Chapters.indigo.ca
See Remy the Rhino Learns Patience at amazon.ca
See Remy the Rhino Learns Patience at amazon.com
See Remy the Rhino Learns Patience at barnes&noble.com
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