Pringle, Lawrence. (2004). Illustrated by Meryl Henderson. Snakes! Strange and
Wonderful. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyd Mills Press. 32 pages.
ISBN 1-59078-003-5
Award: Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, 2005
Genre: informational
Content area: science
Grade level: 1st-5th
Credibility of author: The author acknowledges Kurt Schwenk, Ph.D., and Charles F. Smith, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut for their help.
Summary: This is a fact-filled book about the characteristics of different species of snakes including what they look like, where they live, and how they move, eat, and reproduce. It paints a fascinating picture of snakes with detailed illustrations.
Standards: Life Science IV, Science in Personal and Social VII (Life Science0
Illustrations: Realistic watercolor on two-page spreads with captions
Text: 15-point Clearface Regular
Text structure: descriptive
Tone: conversational-The author begins the book by posing questions.
Voice: The author communicates a fascination and respect for snakes.
Language: The author uses descriptive language such as the onomatopoeia BBBBZZZZ to describe the buzz of a rattlesnake’s rattle when warning something to stay away.
Access features: At the end of the book there is a short history of the relationship between snakes and people, which includes a paragraph about snake conservation.
Use: I would use this book as a read aloud to lower elementary children and for independent reading in upper elementary. This would be a great resource book to use for a unit on reptiles.
Response: I learned some interesting facts about snakes. I was pleased that the author used the term ectothermic, meaning “outside heat,” to describe snakes rather than “cold-blooded,” which can be misleading to children. He also went on to explain that humans, other mammals, and birds are endothermic, which means “inside heat.”
Related texts:
Scary Snakes (I Love Reading) by Monica Hughes
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2 comments:
Even though I would never touch a snake, I am fascinated by them. This sounds like a really interesting book to learn about different kinds of snakes!
Inside Outside Snakes by Sandra Markle is another related text. This book uses photographs. Also, Snake Scientist by Sy Montgomery.
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