Here Comes Rhinoceros

Here Comes Rhinoceros is an English-language translation of the 2016 German publication Kommt das Nashorn from Verlag Jungbrunnen in Vienna, Austria. The picture book is the timeworn story about accepting yourself for who you are. Even though the other animals like him and the little birds that rest on his back need him as a host, Rhinoceros is feeling downcast because the horn which is his trademark is crooked (“an accident”).

The text is spare and attempts poeticism but generally comes across as only stilted. It is impossible to know how much of this problem lies with the original text and how much with the imposition of the translation.

Rhinoceros stops, holds his ground
breathes out heavily, and says, “I wish
I was free like that snowflake.”

(Although the illustration here shows Rhinoceros imagining himself flying by several different modes, there is not a snowflake in sight.)

And:

Here comes Rhinoceros,
curious as a mountain.
He stand there with his bent horn.
“I wish I were heavy,” chirps the tiny bird
as the storm blows it off the page.

As expected, when Rhinoceros realizes how favourably the other animals really view him, he decides to be happy in himself, wonky horn and all.

The pictures, rich in texture and monochromatic in tone, are the redeeming feature of the whole production. The grey-brown crosshatched hide of the rhinoceros is central to every page. The proportions and perspective are just right, making the title character the central mass dominating all the other animals.

Both author Janisch and illustrator Bansch are veterans at making books for children (many published in English by North South), but Here Comes Rhinoceros is a less than successful example of their work. It might be useful in a collection focusing on picture book art, but it is thin gruel for a public library or school collection.