My Rhinoceros (review)

"When I bought my rhinoceros," the narrator says, "I didn't really know what I was getting into." (And how many of us would?) Our young protagonist is disappointed with his buddy's general inactivity; his pet doesn't even engage in the two activities that, according to a rhinoceros expert, the animals are known for: popping balloons and poking holes in kites. That changes one day when, on the way home from the park, boy and beast happen on some fleeing criminals, one floating away in a balloon and the other soaring away in a kite . . . Agee returns to his slightly worried deadpan style, creating a world where having a rhinoceros is normal but not entirely satisfying. The plot is also, unfortunately, not entirely satisfying, with too much relying on the ending that's quickly undercut with a seeming twist that doesn't actually twist. The art is Agee's familiar big, soft, flat shapes with fluid thick lines against pale tints of color. The rhinoceros himself is stolid yet expressive, contentedly watching the boy fling himself into a frenzy trying to elicit a game of fetch but sternly leaping to deliver justice to the robbers. This isn't as successful as Broach's strange pet tale When Dinosaurs Came with Everything (BCCB 10/07), but those who might want to go beyond that to another amiably weird place may want to join the boy and his rhino.