My Pet Rattlesnake

Gr 1–3—An unusual friendship develops when a boy saves a trapped rattlesnake, which follows him home. The snake, for all of its attempts at friendliness, only comes across as creepy and sinister, as it "nips" at the boy's feet in the morning and uses his fangs to scratch at the door. To appease their neighbors, the boy and his father try to leave the snake in the wild, but it always finds its way back. When the snake starts to chase cars, the boy worries about it getting run over, setting up a shocking image of the snake lying in the road, before the confusing final line, "Just like I have been lying to you the whole time!" The detailed, realistic illustrations are well drawn, but the snake's exaggerated expression of eagerness is jarringly cartoonish. There may be little kid appeal in either the story or illustrations and a few spreads that may be frightening to young readers. In one spread, the snake attacks a burglar who breaks into the house, resulting in the image of a pale, screaming man being choked by a real-looking rattlesnake. The text is wordy, with multiple small conflicts rather than a climax to the action. An unsuccessful attempt at an unusual pet story.—Marian McLeod, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT