Do You Know?: The Rhinoceros

Gr 2–4—These latest entries in a series known for in-your-face gross-out humor continue the tradition. Straightforward facts are presented at the bottom of each page, accompanied by garish, comic book-style illustrations that anthropomorphize the animals and exaggerate and trivialize the content. For instance, one page in Rhinoceros reads, "Black rhinoceros are one of the few species that eat thorny vegetation." The image depicts a sweating rhino in an outhouse with a dialogue bubble that reads, "Ouch! The problem isn't swallowing them!" Similarly, Tigers explains that these animals are usually solitary but come together to mate over a five-day period and that females give birth to two to four cubs after 15 or 16 weeks of pregnancy. A picture of a scratched-up stork delivering diapered cubs to a tiger in bed demonstrates this detail. This sharp contrast in tone between text and illustrations could easily confuse early readers.