Amazing Snakes! by Sara L. Thompson, photographs by the Wildlife Conservation Society (HarperCollins, 2006).

Big snakes and little snakes. Snakes that jump from trees and snakes that slither on the ground. Green snakes, black snakes, striped and spotted snakes. Poisonous snakes and harmless snakes. Snakes that eat mice or fish, snakes that eat birds or bats, and even snakes that eat crocodiles. If you like snakes, this is the book for you!

Sarah L. Thomson uses simple language, short sentences, and pronunciation guides within the text to create an engaging book on the lives of snakes. Emerging readers ready for Level 2 “I Can Read” books should have little trouble making their way through the text, and the brilliant photographs will help hold a reader’s attention. In brief passages, page by page, Thomson describes different kinds of snakes around the world, their methods of catching and eating their prey, their use of camoflauge, and their life cycles. At the end, Thomson describes how snakes are a necessary part of the environment and why it pays to protect snakes. She also discusses how scientists study snakes.

Written for the emerging reader, the book would also be an excellent choice for a reluctant reader who has an interest in creepy creatures.

The Six Fools by Zora Neale Hurston, adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Ann Tanksley (HarperCollins, 2006)

When a foolish bride-to-be and her parents let a cask of apple cider floods her basement while daydreaming about the name of her future child, her young man declares he won’t have her until he finds three fools bigger than the ones sitting in the pool of cider.

And find them he does, as he encounters a man trying to jump into his clothes, a farmer trying to get a cow to eat the grass on the barn roof, and a woman trying to push a wheelbarrow of sunshine into her house to dry her scrubbed floor. After all this foolishness, will the young man finally have his bride back?

Zora Neale Hurston traveled the Gulf States in the 1930’s to gather and preserve the rich oral history and legacy of the African-American people of the south.  The Six Fools was among the many tales she recorded. Now Joyce Carol Thomas retells the tale for young people. Ann Tanksley’s raw and vibrant illustrations capture a retro 30’s looks, fitting the times in which the story was first recorded. Their child-like charm captures the exuberance of this tall tale.