My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel

 My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel, illustrated by Serge Bloch

Rating: 4.5 stars

Introducing the only snake I'd ever let live in my house: Blake.  I love what author Randy Siegel does here--he turns an icky and scary snake into a witty, polite pet!  It's a good example of what happens when a good story-teller with a great sense of humor asks him/herself "what if?" while walking around a pet store.  This book is pure fun, and makes Ben and Lorelei giggle as kids should.

A boy's father gets him a pet snake for his birthday, and it turns out that this snake is no ordinary snake.  Ask him a question and he'll spell out the answer for you with his body.  His mom is freaked out until:

The rest of the book is just a list of funny things (with accompanying funny illustrations by Serge Bloch) that Blake does, like find car keys under the sofa, lick the dishes clean, play baseball with the boy, and walk the dog (with a noose-like grip around the trusting pup's neck).

Totally worth checking out.  Totally not getting a snake as a pet anytime soon, though.

Snakes! by David Greenberg, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

Snakes! by David Greenberg, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book is not for the faint of heart!  If your child is already afraid of snakes, perhaps...choose another title.  And if your little reader is intimidated by a lot of big, unknown words, perhaps...choose another title.

This is a romp of a tale told by a sophisticated author whose word choice is awesome and hilarious and challenging and, for sure, different.  I'll give you a sample of what I'm talking about:

Tangled like spaghetti
Slithery and sweaty
Nesting in a heap beneath your bed.

Can you feel your mattress shaking?
Slowing they're awaking
And it's months and months and months since they have fed

What a horrifying rustle
Of cartilage and muscle
Very very slowly they unwind

Tongues abruptly flickering
Whispering and snickering
They wriggle off to see what they can find

Every stanza impresses me!  And, wonderfully, Lorelei and Ben are of the age where they appreciate the rollicking feel of the poem, and Lorelei needs to be challenged by words in this book.  She knows almost all the words she comes across in books, but this one...this one makes her realize how many fun ones there are out there!  For the child who is already reading but either isn't into chapter books (for whatever reason) or isn't ready for the subject matter of chapter books, this is a good little series of books to check out.

The other wonderful thing about this book, and others by David Greenberg (including Skunks! and Bugs! and Slugs!) is the icky nature of them.  They are so far from the clean, pink world of most princess books...I love it!

Hold on, gotta go check for snakes under my bed...