Uncle Snake [Hardcover]

Matthew Gollub (Author), Torres L. Martinez (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

A magical tale of snakes and lightning, Oaxacan style. Once again, Matthew Gollub and Leovigildo Martinez have spun a mysterious and captivating original tale from the rich folk culture of Mr. Martinez's native Oaxaca. Full-color illustrations. Age 5 and up.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gollub and Martinez (The Moon Was at a Fiesta; The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats) pair up for a third and less successful effort, carving a new tale from ancient Mexican folklore. Their story also has ties to Oaxaca, Mexico, where it was believed that a snake in the sky brings about heavy rains. Here, a boy ventures into a forbidden cave and comes out with a snake head atop his human body. A nahual (magic worker) suggests a remedy, that the boy dance at every fiesta and wear a mask for 20 years. He obeys, but when he finally removes his mask he turns into a snake with a human head?lightning?which from then on lights up stormy Oaxacan skies. The beguiling connection between undulating, quick-striking snakes and flashes of lightning is overshadowed by the unexpectedly punitive ending and some annoying loose ends. On the bright side, Martinez's delicate watercolors are as fresh and eye-opening as usual, and his eerie, primitivist characters intensify the tale's supernatural flavor. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3?A wonderful original folktale "inspired by an ancient belief in Oaxaca, Mexico, that a snake in the sky brings about heavy rains." Many years ago, a curious boy entered a forbidden cave where he saw a group of children with human heads and snakes' bodies. After leaving the cave, the boy himself became a human body with a snake's head. Attempting to return the boy to a fully human state, a nahual (shape-changing magic worker) provided him with a mask to wear for 20 years. After 20 years had passed, the boy, now known as Uncle Snake, removed his mask and found himself to be a snake with a human head. He then leapt into the sky, where he lives today. Now every time there is a storm, Uncle Snake flashes across the sky in the form of lightning. This folktale, filled with curanderos (folk healers), snakes, and fiesta dances, sets a decidedly Mexican mood, reinforced by Oaxacan artist Martinez's glowing earth tones and eerie folk images. Dramatic black-and-white borders surround the watercolors painted on textured paper and the text. Pair this tale with another Gollub/Martinez hit, The Moon Was at a Fiesta (Tambourine, 1994), for a captivating Southern Mexican story time.?Denise E. Agosto, Midland County Public Library, TX
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (August 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688139442
• ISBN-13: 978-0688139445
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,923,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Gollub is a children's author, speaker, storyteller and musician. He has created 15 picture books which together have garnered 25 national awards and distinctions. His musical narrations on audio CD--set to jazz, Latin jazz or rhythm and blues combos--accompany some of his most popular books. (Yes, that's also him playing drums behind his vocals.) He delights in introducing rhythmic sounds to kids while engaging their imaginations with stories. His idea of a successful children's book with audio is one that kids, and grown-ups, can savor time and again.

Kudos for Gollub's latest title, "Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Pachanga", include: Foreword Reviews Best Books of the Year Gold Award Winner; USA Book News Best Books 2010 Award Winner; International Book Awards Winner; Parents' Choice Award; Moonbeam Children's Book Award Gold Medal.

Acclaim for the original "Jazz Fly," his all-time bestselling title, includes: Writer's Digest National Self-Published Book Award; America's #1 Recommended Children's Book, Children's Book Sense 76; Benjamin Franklin Award for Children's Book with Audio; Smithsonian's Notable Books for Children; California Department of Education Suggested Reading; San Francisco Chronicle Editors' Picks.

"Gobble, Quack, Moon," loosely based on the author's family as he grew up, likewise received a Benjamin Franklin Award and was a Top 10 Book Sense selection among independent booksellers nationwide. This title enjoys a further distinction in that the author's mother has named it her favorite book!

A dynamic, bilingual (English and Spanish) presenter, Gollub has performed at over 1,000 elementary schools, providing language arts enrichment for over half a million students. His goal as an author/speaker is to inspire young people to read for fun. He lives with his wife and son in California, one hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "Uncle Snake" lights up the sky, October 8, 2010

By 

Miss Heidi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncle Snake (Hardcover)

"Uncle Snake" is an original folktale by Matthew Gollub, inspired by a Oaxacan belief that likens lightning to snakes. My 5 and 8 year old read this book with quiet excitement, especially my son. The story follows a boy into a cave where he experiences a mystical transformation. Now with the head of a snake, the boy is taken by his parents to the village curandero, a healer, and then a nahual, a magic worker, to see if they can change him back to his original form. Given an enchanted mask and special instructions, the boy grows up to be Uncle Snake. He dances and tells stories and runs through the hills to cheers from the village children. When his time has come, Uncle Snake removes the mask and is changed again and jettisoned into the sky to become a dancing beacon to all below that storms approach. Leovigildo Martinéz, an honored artist from Oaxaca, illustrates this fable with compelling watercolors that cast its Mexican characters and landscapes with mythic light and shade. This picture book is a great selection to encourage cultural literacy and open up discussion about the world's fables with your kids. And sometimes now, when my kids ask me a question I can't answer, I borrow a favorite line from the book's nahual. "The answer is in the clouds." Gollub and Martinéz have also collaborated on two other fine books for children, "The Moon was at a Fiesta" and "The Twenty-Five Mixtec Cats." They are available in Spanish as well.

Uncle Snake
The Moon Was at a Fiesta
The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats