Remy the Rhino Learns Patience (Review)

My daughter is three.  My son is 1.  Patience is not running high in our home.  I wish I was only speaking of the children, but some days the grown-ups are just as bad as the young ones.  As author and illustrator, Andy McGuire has created a wonderful book to help children (and grown-ups) learn a lesson in patience from a very impatient animal friend in Remy the Rhino Learns Patience.

Remy is a rhinoceros who has anger issues and is an impatient rhinoceros.  The other animals of the savanna were scared of him, and one day Remy makes a mistake of charging an aardvark.  This aardvark is smart and gets out of the way, and Remy finds himself with his horn stuck in a tree!  No matter how hard he tries or how loud he shouts, he can't get free.

The aardvark-the one he had charged-offers a solution.  The solution is having termites come and help.  This created a new problem for Remy because if he struggled or jerked it would scare the termite helpers away.  Slowly (and painfully for him) Remy learned to relax and finally, through the rain and thunder and visitors from far-away places, broke free from the tree.

The pictures are realistic, yet very pretty as they show the different animals and the savanna.  It has a rhyming text, which when read aloud is very delightful for all involved.

Apparently, this book hit a little to close to home for my daughter.    She is not patient, and like Remy, angers very quickly.  We were about halfway through our first reading of this book when she just refused to finish it.  Despite her reluctance to finish this book, I think this book shows perfectly how impatience gets us in trouble.

If you like children's books, you should visit 5 Minutes for Books in the next few days!  They're having a Fall Festival of Children's Books with reviews and giveaways galore!

Thank you Harvest House Publishers for providing me with this book for review purposes.