RHINO’S GREAT BIG ITCH!

Who can scratch in just the right place? A terrible itch plagues big Rhino’s ear, and no amount of wriggling and rolling on the ground is able to satisfy it. Bird wisely advises Rhino that he just “needs a little help,” so off goes Rhino in search of relief. But...the Frog is too slimy, the Monkey too silly, the Lizard too prickly, the Lion too forbidding to ask. Rhino sinks into despair, until the persistent Bird offers to help. With a hop, a skip and a little peck, Bird helps his new friend ditch the itch. Chivers’s warm paintings are gorgeous in both composition and golden, savanna-dusty pallette, but, perhaps in an attempt to be thoroughly toddler-friendly, she gives poor Rhino not a horn on his nose but a softly rounded bump, which children will find puzzling. Moreover, her story’s a bit underwhelming, not the aptest or most compelling metaphor for friendship, and she misses a teaching opportunity by naming Bird generically instead of specifically calling him an oxpecker, which he resembles in coloration, shape and relationship with Rhino. Pretty but imperfect. (Picture book. 3-6)