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PreS-Gr 3—In 1741, a Dutch sea captain, Douwemont Van der Meer, transported Clara, a young rhinoceros, from India to his home in Leiden. For the next 17 years, Van der Meer transported her to dozens of cities throughout Europe, including Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Vienna. Clara charmed royals such as Empress Maria Theresa and Louis XV. She amazed peasants and aristocrats, who paid to see her. Poets, painters, and musicians created works in her honor. McCully carries readers on these travels while never...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

For a period of seventeen years in the mid-eighteenth century, a Dutch sea captain traveled around Europe in the company of a rhinoceros named Clara, exhibiting her in market towns and royal courts and coping with the logistical problems of a living exhibit that weighed three tons. McCully's version of this odd little chapter in history is genial. In decorative watercolors we see luscious costumes and extravagant wigs against a backdrop of the...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In the mid-eighteenth century, a Dutch sea captain traveled around Europe exhibiting a rhinoceros named Clara. In McCully's genial version of ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More