Who wants a cheap Rhinoceros?   By Shel Silverstein
Macmillan Publishing Co.
52 pages
ISBN 0-02-782690-2

Summary: A cheap rhinoceros is available for a house pet. Explore the many services a rhinoceros can provide around the house.

Concept: Goods and Services

Definition: Goods are tangible objects that satisfy people's wants. Services are actions, which also satisfy people's wants.

Comprehension Questions:

List the services the rhinoceros could provide for you (the consumer).

holding hats making donuts
scratching backs protecting you
eating bad report cards bed warmer
opening cans helping with knitting
turning ropes plowing fields
collecting extra allowance eating scraps
playing battleship playing records
providing a comfortable place to sit playing hide and seek

Identify a service the rhinoceros was not great at providing. (He was not great at opening doors.)

What "good" did the rhinoceros become as he helped provide some of the services?
(lamp, record player, plow)

What service could you provide for the rhinoceros? (Hint: It's on a Sunday!)
(On Sunday, you can read him the comics.)

Based on the list of services the rhinoceros can provide, explain if buying the rhinoceros would be a good purchase. (Answers may vary. Yes, because the "cheap" unusual pet provides many uses. No, because my mother wouldn't like such a gigantic pet in the house!)

Other Concepts: economic wants



(From KidsEcon Posters©: www.kidseconposters.com)