Slithery Snakes

Gr 2–4—Floating on a colorful, realistic, double-page painting of patterned skin, a black text box offers clues to the snake's identity, and it is up to readers to name the species. Fortunately for unfledged herpetologists, the following spread presents the entire snake in full color, carefully placed in its habitat. Each bright revelation is accompanied by a more detailed paragraph of information. The nine species range from the familiar (the coast garter snake) to the expected (the eastern diamondback rattlesnake) to the exotic (Schinz's beaked snake). Accompanying this colorful array is an introductory page of "Fun Snake Facts," another discussing snakes in general, a glossary of "Fun Snake Words," and a brief list of adult titles. Team this with Laurence Pringle's nifty Snakes!: Strange and Wonderful (Boyds Mills, 2004) and/or Gail Gibbons's exuberant Snakes (Holiday House, 2007) for a session of scaly speculation. —Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY