Snakes!: Strange and Wonderful [Hardcover]

Laurence Pringle (Author), Meryl Henderson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Strange and Wonderful

Can you climb a tree without using arms or legs? Can you smell odors by wiggling your tongue in the air? Snakes can! Beginning with these simple questions, award-winning author Laurence Pringle invites readers to explore the remarkable abilities and lives of snakes. Snakes are legless reptiles, but thanks to their powerful muscles and hundreds of rib bones, the can coil, creep, climb, and swim. Some can even glide through the air. Snakes can't see or hear very well, yet they find and kill prey. Sometimes a snake catches an animals that is much wider than its head. Its jaws open wide ... wider .... WIDER - and swallow the animal whole. The biggest snakes, such as pythons, can swallow animals as large as deer! Join Laurence Pringle as he takes a look at some of the more than two thousand snakes that are found almost all over the world, from pit vipers, such as rattlesnakes, to constrictors, such as pythons. A lively and informative text, joined with Meryl Henderson's bold and realistic art, explains how snakes hunt for food, move, shed their skin, give birth, and play important roles in nature. While snakes may look strange, this fascinating book shows why they are also wonderful creatures.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-5–In this concise overview, short paragraphs describe these remarkable reptiles' major physical and behavioral characteristics and highlight some distinctive traits of several different species. An addenda outlines snakes' role in world mythology, their ecological importance, and efforts to preserve their habitats. More than three dozen species from around the world are depicted in the realistic watercolors. Two-page paintings showcase some snakes, while smaller, boxed illustrations offer views of others. Captions provide their common names and average sizes. The narrative is well organized and clearly written. Pringle's book covers the same topics as Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's Slinky, Scaly, Slithery Snakes (Walker, 2000), but in more detail, and Henderson's watercolors are more precise regarding body shapes and coloration. While Seymour Simon's Snakes (HarperCollins, 1992) offers more information on growth patterns, snake families, and egg-laying behavior, Pringle's volume provides more facts on senses and depicts a greater number of species. With its crisp writing and profuse illustrations, it will please both browsers and report writers.–Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 2-5. From the opening series of questions ("Can you climb a tree without using arms or legs? Snakes can") to the final page on "Snakes and People" throughout history, this fascinating book offers an excellent introduction to the subject. Well researched and vividly written, the text surveys the wide variety of snakes in the world and explains the unusual behaviors that characterize various types. Even children who think they know all about snakes will probably learn something new here: constrictors cause death by pressure on their victims' hearts; venomous snakes can bite without releasing their poisons. Sometimes showing dramatic scenes, sometimes presenting seldom-seen details, Henderson's excellent watercolor paintings mirror the text to illustrate both physical characteristics and behavior. With this handsome addition to the series that began with Dinosaurs! Strange and Wonderful (1995), even readers fearful of snakes may find the subject a little less strange, a little more wonderful. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590780035
• ISBN-13: 978-1590780039
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,890,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Age 10 and under?, February 20, 2007

By 

Teresa M. Finn "Tiffin" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snakes!: Strange and Wonderful (Hardcover)

This is a nice book but was too young for my eleven year old