This book is hilarious! I read it with my 8-year-old son and we laughed and laughed. The only thing objectionable for that age is that the little boy in the book plays video games alot (which the snake criticizes actually) but in one scene he uses the words "this sucks" and "damn" or "damnit." But that's it.
The book is written from the point of view of a snake about a little boy who catches wild critters and makes "pets" out of them. By the end of the book, the snake has questioned some of her presumptions about herself and other creatures (kind of a cute little "moral" but not overly emphasized. Mostly it sends the message that kids are notorious for mistreating their "pets," particularly simple neglect).
PLOT SPOILER - if you are reading this with a sensitive kid, the boy's pet tarantula and pet lizard both die from neglect and get pitched out the window. The tarantula isn't ever really a character (the reptiles converse telepathically) but the lizard dying is a little sad - that chapter basically says that her "way out" of captivity was death by starvation. My son is usually really sensitive, but he was okay with it.
As I said, we are still laughing and quoting lines to each other, particularly from the mouse, "Breakfast" that was supposed to be the snake's food, but ended up as a companion. As soon as we finished it, my son wanted to start it over. A good easy chapter book - about 13 fairly short (few pages) chapters.
The book is written from the point of view of a snake about a little boy who catches wild critters and makes "pets" out of them. By the end of the book, the snake has questioned some of her presumptions about herself and other creatures (kind of a cute little "moral" but not overly emphasized. Mostly it sends the message that kids are notorious for mistreating their "pets," particularly simple neglect).
PLOT SPOILER - if you are reading this with a sensitive kid, the boy's pet tarantula and pet lizard both die from neglect and get pitched out the window. The tarantula isn't ever really a character (the reptiles converse telepathically) but the lizard dying is a little sad - that chapter basically says that her "way out" of captivity was death by starvation. My son is usually really sensitive, but he was okay with it.
As I said, we are still laughing and quoting lines to each other, particularly from the mouse, "Breakfast" that was supposed to be the snake's food, but ended up as a companion. As soon as we finished it, my son wanted to start it over. A good easy chapter book - about 13 fairly short (few pages) chapters.
