The Day Jimmys Boa Ate the Wash
April 13, 2009 by Pet Snakes · Leave a Comment
The Day Jimmys Boa Ate the Wash
When Jimmy’s unusual pet accompanies him on his class trip, an ordinary jaunt to a farm turns into a hilarious, slapstick romp. “A top-notch choice that children will not be able to put down.”–Booklist, starred review. Full-color.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars A JOY TO READ.
This is one of my favorites. The Day Jimmy’s boa ate the Wash is the story of a day trip by a local group of school children to a local farm. Now let me say right now; many may think that this is a group of complete brats as the kids, through a series of incidents, pretty well trash the entire farm. This is not so. To be quite frank, the actions of these children are pretty typical of just about any fourth or fifth grade class when out on a field trip.
The story begins with a young girl, being asked by her mother how their trip went that day. The little girl responds that it was okay, but pretty boring, until the cow started crying. The story then picks up speed and becomes absolutely hilarious. We find the cow was crying because they hay fell on her, which was pushed when the farmer’s tractor went out of control because it……well, as you can see this is a progressive story with one incident setting off a chain reaction which leads to complete disaster and chaos.
The story is only half of it though. The art work in this little book is completely delightful and full of detail, right down to the various expression the children’s teacher displays as each incident unfolds. Some of the pictures, such as when the pigs get on the school bus and help themselves to the children’s lunch or when Jimmy’s pet boa visits the hen house, will most certainly bring a chuckle to just about anyone reading this one.
The whole story of course is capped off by Jimmy’s Boa eating the farmer’s wife’s laundry right off the line.
This is a fun book to read with children and a fun book for them to just set and read themselves. The story is simple, but the way the author has it set up, coupled with the amazing illustrations, makes this one a real page turner.
Get this one and read it with your kid with joy!
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
4 Stars This is a classic “backwards” story
This is the classic story where a girl comes home from a school trip and tells her mother what happened - but backwards and forwards in that roundabout way kids have, skipping half the details. Her mother has to try to fill in the gaps that way.
The illustrations are a riot. This one is definitely a keeper.
5 Stars The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate The Wash
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash
This book is a must read for anyone who wants to laugh at the round about way kids tell stories, taking you on a winding and tiring road that makes you put the story pieces together in a straight line. I originally bought this book when our son was very young, and recently re-purchased it (he is now 16) to get a chuckle out of his long winded, end-to-beginning way of telling stories!
5 Stars Pretty much the best book ever written
This is a true children’s classic, and I don’t care that it was not written back in the far day with cutesy pictures. This tells a great story in a “backwards” format where what should have been a simple explanation becomes worse and worse as more details are brought in. The illustrations are amazing and hilarious and do more than their part in telling this charming story. This is a great way to show logic and sequence and more kids need to know this story!
5 Stars Delightful!
I’m 21 and I still love this book. Maybe it’s not exactly a comedy routine, but it’s so much fun; you have to smile reading it.
We Cant All Be Rattlesnakes
April 13, 2009 by Pet Snakes · Leave a Comment
I am a snake.
No, not a rattlesnake. I just look like one. I’m a gopher snake.
One day an oily, filthy, fleshy human child crossed my path. As luck would have it, he knew the difference between a gopher snake and a rattlesnake. He has imprisoned me in a terrarium. His name is Gunnar. He calls me Crusher. He thinks I’m male. I’m not.
He dropped in a dead mouse and hoped I’d eat it. I buried it. He then dropped in a live one, which he called “Breakfast.” I didn’t lay a coil on it.
Gunnar thinks I’ll be his adoring pet. He’s wrong.
In fact, I am planning my escape. I may take Breakfast with me.
Crusher will charm readers in this entertaining, clever novel about a snake in captivity and how she turns the tables on her human captor.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Some Stockholm Syndrome snakey style
Talking animals. They’re great. Where would we be without our “Charlotte’s Web”, our “The Wind in the Willows” or our “Babe The Gallant Pig”? Kids like to imagine their pets with rich inner lives. I think the recent success of books like “The Warriors” by Erin Hunter are evidence enough of that. And titles where kids capture and befriend wild animals? Whether you’re talking about “Rascal” or “Wings”, we’re all familiar with the set-up. Child (usually a boy) finds and adopts a wild animal, usually injured. The two bond and then comes the painful separation at the end. Sniff snuck you’re done. I imagine Patrick Jennings looking at such stories with a wry smile on his face. I mean, sure it sounds nice when you’re talking about the bond between warm-blooded creatures. So what happens when a boy catches a snake with the sole purpose of seeing it kill and destroy other creatures? And what if we’re getting all this from the snake’s point of view as it desperately attempts to figure out a means of escape? Suddenly this heartwarming trope takes a more interesting turn, and if your author is good (and Jennings is) then you’ve got yourself a book that’s short, exciting, interesting, funny, and touching in turns.
Had the gopher snake Gunnar captured actually been a rattler (as he initially thought it was) he still couldn’t have been more pleased to add it to his collection of wild reptiles in separate terrariums. After naming the snake Crusher, Gunnar proceeds to watch her refuse to eat. Crusher has some standards, after all, and she has every intention of escaping from her unexpected prison. When Gunnar attempts to tempt her with a live mouse (one she mistakenly assumes is named Breakfast) her stubbornness turns the furry neighbor into a surprising friend. Crusher remains dedicated to escaping, but now she has a small mammal to take care of as well. And when the time comes, it’s going to take all her cunning to get them both away safely.
The book stands at a scant 128 pages, ideal for the reluctant reader, in spite of its lack of pictures. In fact I have the strangest feeling that some of the kids who might like the book the most could be Gunnars of their own. The real trick to a book like this, however, is how effectively the writing is going to suck a reader in. For Crusher to be our heroine, she needs to be charming and infinitely all things snake. We need to believe that we’re dealing with a reptile here. Jennings delivers. He knows how to convey snake anatomy and fears (”A snake has no greater fear than of falling. It’s the lack of limbs. We can do nothing to prevent ourselves from flopping onto our ribs, and a snake is all ribs.”). Snake maternal instincts (”I can’t imagine living with one’s offspring. I’ve never even met mine.”). And snake disgust with human eating habits when confronted with milk in a fridge (”Mammal juice”). It isn’t that you don’t sympathize and grow to love Crusher. You just don’t forget that this is a snake you’re dealing with, and that is exactly how Crusher would prefer it.
The thing about Gunnar is that as a villain he doesn’t harbor the sheer vindictiveness you’d find in, say, Gar Face from “The Underneath”. No his cruelty is evident far more in his neglect. As a child alternately ignored and pampered by his negligent parents, Gunnar seeks affection from reptiles, even if he mistreats them in turn. He’s a flawed boy, but not entirely unsympathetic. You understand why Crusher would be inclined to comfort him, but you are equally aware that escape is the only option here. The boy is a menace to anything he captures, and getting out alive isn’t just a necessity, it’s imperative.
The friendship between Crusher and Breakfast is delightful. Breakfast has all the brains of a mouse with the requisite panic and limited vocabulary you would expect from such a creature. In fact, Crusher’s slow friendship with Breakfast reminded me of a great line in Charise Mericle Harper’s graphic novel “Fashion Kitty”. In that book a family of cats keeps a mouse as a pet, but it’s acknowledged right off the bat that this is considered the equivalent of a human keeping a chocolate cake as a pet. The next panel shows a human with a cake on a leash saying wistfully, “I love you, but I really wish I could eat you.” Crusher, to my infinite relief, doesn’t become some vegetarian snake either. Sure, she eats a fair amount of eggs, but you get the feeling that Breakfast aside, she still harbors a sweet tooth for a fine frisky rodent.
The book would actually pair quite beautifully with “Snake and Lizard” by Joy Cowley. Both titles know how to make carnivorous snakes into loveable, if still essentially snakelike, characters. Though I was vaguely baffled by some of the ancient slang peppering this book (Mom, at one point, is said to be in danger of “having a cow” if she finds out something), I’m willing to forgive a book a lot if it includes a character eating a breakfast cereal called “Quasimod-Os”. “We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes” is such a slim little novel, I worry it will get lost in the vast hoards of titles being released at this time. Do yourself a favor. Find it. Enjoy it. Give it to boys and girls alike, because when it comes to kid-friendly, well-written fare, this book is for everybody. A delicate little jewel of a novel.
5 Stars Has a point (or two) to make to readers but is not preachy
One day in the hot Arizona desert, a gopher snake was spied and then abducted by a fierce and ruthless predator. She was roughly grabbed and taken indoors, forced to live in a small box, a dead mouse thrown at her for food. The gopher snake tried to scare the predator, hissing and rattling her tail, but her captor, a young boy named Gunnar, was not impressed and kept her prisoner despite her threats and pleas.
In WE CAN’T ALL BE RATTLESNAKES, Patrick Jennings tells the tale of that wild and proud gopher snake and the boy who tries to tame her.
Gunnar names the snake Crusher and places her in a glass cage alongside his other acquisitions: a small turtle, a lizard and a tarantula. The reptiles can read each other’s thoughts and understand Gunnar’s language, though not always his meaning, and are unable to discern the spider’s thoughts. The turtle, Speedy, and the lizard, Rex, warn Crusher about Gunnar; he is cruel to and ignorant about the creatures he captures, and many have died of starvation in this room. Crusher begins to plan her escape, but the others doubt it can be done and suggest she come to terms with her incarceration.
Crusher soon convinces Gunnar that she is tame. She lets him handle her and is gentle with him, all the while looking for a way out. But Gunnar’s treatment of her and the others is terrible, and his emotionally negligent parents do little to ensure their proper care. Instead they let him bring new reptiles and spiders in as others die and are tossed carelessly out the bedroom window. They allow him to spend his days playing violent video games and abusing the rich and amazing nature outside their door. Still, Gunnar is a lonely and sad kid, and Crusher begins to feel sorry for him. However, she tries not to let her pity foil her plans for escape.
Jennings’s story is inventive and creative, but the issues it presents are all too real. Gunnar is a child in need of direction and encouragement, and the animals are in need of protection (of body and habitat). The secondary story, of the friendship between Crusher and a mouse named Breakfast, is more fantastic but compelling and touching as well.
WE CAN’T ALL BE RATTLESNAKES has a point (or two) to make to readers but is not preachy. Instead, Jennings hits just the right entertaining note and still gets his points across. This is a thoughful chapter book with some challenging and important ideas about family, nature and cooperation.
— Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Crictor Reading Rainbow Book
April 13, 2009 by Pet Snakes · Leave a Comment
‘A highly diverting picture book about an agreeable pet boa constrictor that earns the affection and gratitude of a French village.’ —BL. ‘Children will love it.’ —H.
Notable Children’s Books of 1940–1959 (ALA)
1959 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
A Reading Rainbow Selection
1958 Children’s Spring Book Festival Prize (NY Herald Tribune)
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Captures imagination regarding snakes
Friendly little tale about a snake who gets “adopted” by a lady. He takes on the role of an average pet… he even walks on a leash. Cute.
4 Stars Crictor…the boa constrictor. I like it. 
Do you ever like a book ‘just because’? I can’t make a comment on the witty prose or beautiful artwork to back up my heartfelt, “I like it” but I will try. It is an endearing tale about a snake. The storyline is nonsensical and fun–totally entertaining. The pen and ink drawings with lots of green coloring like the beloved title character are a perfect compliment to the story.
If you want to go educational get out the maps and locate the 2 places that are mentioned in the story — France & Africa. A sense of right & wrong alongside good character always strikes a chord with parents so Crictor is right on there. Whether an adult is reading aloud or an elementary student is reading independently, this book is sure to please.
All things considered, I just like it.
4 Stars Crictor — a charming tale
A charming tale involving a pet snake Crictor and his elderly female owner who has received the boa as a gift from her son in Africa. Lovely images throughout, especially Crictor in his 10 foot long bed. A nice use of language and a happy ending to boot!
5 Stars Adorable… and one that your kids will remember…
19 years after I first read Crictor, I still remember nearly every word. It was quite possibly one of my favorite books as a child because it is sweet, funny, and heartfelt. Crictor is a boa constrictor that Mdm. Bodot’s son has sent home from Africa. He bonds with Mdm. Bodot after an initial fright and quickly endears himself to everyone. Soon, he is given an opportunity to foil a burglar who threatens Mdm. Bodot and is revered as a hero. I read this book over and over again until it was in tatters. What child doesn’t love a friendly protecting character like Crictor? Pair it with Lyle, Lyle Crocodile for a double-dose of green reptilian fun.
5 Stars Childhood revisited
As a kindergarten teacher, I just love to read this book to my students.
As a lifelong reader and lover of books, I just love this book. Reading it brings back my childhood. The illustrations are just beautiful and the story is pure fun.
I am so happy to see that books like these are still out and avaiable to purchase. We need books like these for the next generation.
The Art of Keeping Snakes Herpetocultural Library
April 13, 2009 by Pet Snakes · Leave a Comment
The Art of Keeping Snakes Herpetocultural Library
Snakes are among the most beautiful and fascinating creatures of all the vertebrates. It is no wonder there are more than fifty species of snakes regularly bred in captivity and more than one hundred species available in pet stores. But how does the keeping of snakes become art? By developing a naturalistic vivarium system that puts a snake’s welfare and quality of life above all. This will enhance your enjoyment in observing these fascinating creatures.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars comfy habitat=happy herp
Wow! This book is so detailed. The author stresses how important habitat is to the health and happiness of your snake. He goes into different kinds of snakes,selection, their care,feeding,breeding,health,handling and temperament. By creating the best habitat humanly possible, you will see the animal act natural in a vivarium that is pleasing to look at. He also tells of types of living plants and their care, and a LIVING substrate that cleans itself!
There are lots of color photos. If you love your pet snake…get this book!
5 Stars A true “must have” for many keepers
This book is different in it’s approach than any other care book I’ve seen. The author argues for, and shows how to do, quasi-natural to naturalist setups for many common serpents.
The difference is that most books do not touch natural vivaria for snakes. There has been some recognition of thier benefits with lizards and amphibians, but little to no discussion of thier role in snake husbandry.
The book covers the basics of setting up different types of vivaria–i.e. desert and tropic, etc. and list some plants, and substrate mixes that are suitable. He then goes into some particular snakes he feels are well suited for this sort of display. This means the books focuses on small through midsized, diurnal snakes, as they are the best display animals in a natural set up. This excludes many common species, but includes many species equally suited to a beginner–some of which are actually more suited than many more popular species, and hey, it opens up new ideas.
These setups, in my experince (I’ve been doing them for several years) make keeping snakes much more rewarding. I’ve tried the LAM method (sterile boxes, wood shavings, and a heat source) and it’s not that much fun. It has it’s place, but it should emphatically not be the approach employed by the average hobbyist. Allowing snakes a fairly large cage, with structures and possibly plants, appropriate to it’s size and behavior, greatly enhances thier captive behavior. A boa constrictor can just sit in a 4X2X1 foot cage all day, with little to do, and live. Or, you can put it in a 4X2X3 cage with thick branches, places to explore, ect. and have a much more interesting captive.
SOme of the book is common sense, some of it is fairly detailed, but for a novice keeper, it is a must have–and frankly, it’s a good idea for many more advanced keepers.
The approach advocated does have limits; truly large snakes (big boas, burmese, etc.) are not suited for planted tanks, because they crush anything smaller than a tree. Furthermore, I wish the book dealt with quasi-natural setups more–they’re my preferred approach, and more flexible. You simply use wood shavings, or a burrowable mix of sand and soil, and structure large branches and rocks in the cage. No plants, true, so not as pretty, but provides much of the same stimulus and is easier by far. I also wish he dealt more with noctural displays; he mentions some ideas (i.e. use redlights) but he doesn’t deal with ways to make truly amazing noctural displays–e.g. plants that flower at night, etc.
But still, this book gives you info you will not get in any other avialable book for snakes. It also advocates an approach that makes keeping snakes truly much more pleasent. I heartily reccomend it for anyone, particularly new people, or people who use the LAM method and are burning out. It opens new ideas, better ideas.
4 Stars Read this first
Before getting into keeping a snake I wanted to know exactly what I was going to let myself in for. This book not only gave me that information, but more. It shows how you can create a territory for the snake that is enjoyable and healthy for the animal, ecological, pleasant to look at and requires relatively low maintenance. I ended up dividing the purchasing process into 3 phases: Creating a pleasant vivarium, where the buying of plants and composition were at least as much fun as the anticipation of getting a snake. Then the purchasing of quarantine equipment and finally the snake and food. This book helped me all the way through. I highly recommend it and read it before you purchase any snake.
5 Stars At Last!!
Keeping snakes in plastic blanket boxes has its place in the warehouses of professional breeders but for the average keeper, we wonder why, after starting with a pair of snakes, we somehow become disillusioned and unsatisfied with them and move onto a different ‘more advanced’ species. Suddenly we find ourselves with corn snakes, kingsnakes, boas, green tree pythons and wonder, amid all the blanket boxes, why we ever started. The daily cleaning and feeding chores are only offset by the fact that we made a little money on the side by selling offspring.
If you are thinking about owning a snake or are already drawn in the direction of purchasing more and more species - I would recommend this book above all others.
Snakes Of The Southeast Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book
April 13, 2009 by Pet Snakes · Leave a Comment
Snakes Of The Southeast Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book
Fifty-two kinds of snakes can be found in the Southeast, almost half of all species native to North America. Filled with more than 300 color photographs and written by two of the region’s most renowned herpetologists, this is the most comprehensive educational guide to the snakes of the Southeast. At the heart of the guide are its heavily illustrated, fact-filled descriptions of each species and its habitat. Also included is a wealth of general information about the importance of snake conservation and the biology, diversity, and life cycles of snakes. Useful information about the interactions of humans and snakes is also covered: species that are likely to be found near houses, snakes as pets, what to do in case of a snake bite, and more. Clearly written, cleanly designed, and fun to use, the guide will promote a better understanding of the habitat needs of, and environmental challenges to, this fascinating group of animals.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Snakes Alive!
Great book for those doing a lot of hiking or walking. Easy to identify pictures allow close comparison. I commonly run into snakes during rugged terrain hikes and am familiar with most but this book helped me with those where I was unsure-non poisonous.
5 Stars A Great Reference Book
If you’re interested in snakes, this is the best reference book I’ve found. I live on a large wooded lot with lots of snakes. This book has allowed me to identify them all — from babies to adults. It’s an interesting read. Not too technical. I highly recommend it.
5 Stars Very Happy!!
I was so happy to come across this book. I first found it at the library. It’s everything I could ever want in a snake book and more. Fantastic picture quality and detail!! Great illustration and resource guide.
5 Stars SNAKES OF THE SOUTHEAST
The book is well research, well written, beatifully illustrated.
Knowing what’s in your immediate enviroment is important.
I would recommend this book to anyone.
5 Stars Gibbons a Winner Again
A worthy successor to Snakes of Georgia & South Carolina, also co-authored by Whit Gibbons. This earlier volume, now out of print, was superb as well…though brief and exorbitantly priced.
The current work is logically organized, user-friendly yet comprehensive. The color photos are tack-sharp. For the amateur naturalist, teacher or student alike, or for the common sojourner this is the perfect reference–liberally illustrated but detailed as well. Plus–the price is right.
