A Water Snake's Year - Hardcover

Grade 3-5-- A handsome look at a hypothetical year in the life of a Northern Water Snake. Readers follow her from her winter-long hibernation underground through a cycle of rousing, feeding, shedding, mating, giving birth, and returning to her hibernation spot. Also included is an episode in which a storm-induced spate pushes the snake out of her usual stretch of river and into unknown and therefore more dangerous territory. The text is free of anthropomorphism, ascribing no emotions at all to its subject. The section on mating is almost too discreet--some young readers might wonder just what had happened, if anything. The text is accompanied by extremely attractive full-color illustrations including flora and fauna native to the Middle Prong of the Little River in Tennessee, the setting chosen by the author. While somewhat reminiscent in scope to Freschet's The Watersnake (Scribners, 1979; o.p.), this includes far more information about the snake, its habits and habitat, and avoids the clutter of the fictional framework about boys attempting to capture the snake for a science project. Attractive, accurate, clearly written, this is a nice introduction to a nonpoisonous member of a much-maligned species. --Patricia Manning, Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A title-spread cutaway illustration of the snake hibernating underground and a simple map locating her habitat in Tennessee's Great Smokies presage this fine book's careful regard for precision in every detail. Gove's lucid text covers a wealth of information--not just cycles of mating and giving birth, eating, shedding skin, and hibernating, but intriguing facts like how the snake emerges from water without leaving a telltale wet streak and the natural drama of her being swept downstream by a storm and then finding her way back to familiar territory. Duncan's lovely illustrations are as meticulous as the text, with each of the many plants shown in its appropriate season--violets and bluets when the snake emerges from hibernation in April, mountain laurel blooming at mating time in May. Relative size clues are also consistent and familiar (e.g., acorns). Each double-spread illustration gracefully accommodates a substantial amount of text in an ample space provided by an expanse of water, sky, or ground. An unusually felicitous blend of art, natural history, and thoughtful book design. Index. (Nonfiction. 7-11) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.