Snakes Are Hunters

Snakes Are Hunters

Written by: Patricia Lauber
Illustrated by: Holly Keller
Genre: Nonfiction
Grades: 1-5
Awards: None

This book starts off by explaining that you will never see big snakes near your home. There are over 3,000 kinds of snakes in the world. Snakes never blink, because they have no eyelids, instead they have a clear cover to protect their eyes, called a spectacle. Snakes are hunters that catch other animals for food in the wild and they use their nostrils to scent out their prey. Snakes can't hear sounds like humans, but they can sense any movement on the ground around them. Snake's teeth are curved like needles, but they can't chew their food, so they swallow their prey whole. Rattlesnakes is one of the snakes that can sense heat, so they know a warm-blooded animal is near. Rattlesnakes is also one that kills their prey with poison. Their two long fangs are hallow but filled with sac of poison or venom. For young snakes, their thin outer skin becomes too tight so they shed. This is normal as snakes shed their skin many times during its lifetime. The book concludes that the best way to view snakes is in the zoo, where it is contained. 

I enjoyed reading this book and it is a perfect book for students to use during a research and is in need of a resource. This book would be good for first to fifth graders. Students can draw a snake and label its body parts and what function that body part does.