Penner Lucille Recht - S-S-S-snakes!

Text copyright 1994 by Lucille Recht Penner
Illustrations copyright 1994 by Peter Barrett
Cover illustration copyright 2009 by Kristin Kest All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Step into Reading, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Visit us on the Web!
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RHTeachersLibrarians.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Penner, Lucille Recht.
S-s-snakes! / by Lucille Recht Penner ; illustrated by Peter Barrett.
p. cm. (Step into reading. bdg.) 1. bdg.) 1.

SnakesJuvenile literature. [1. Snakes.]
I. Title: Snakes. II. III. Title. IV. IV.

Series: Step into reading. Step 3 book.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-679-84777-9
eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37451-4 Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. v3.1 To Jeremy and Elaine
L.R.P.
The snake on the cover and title page is
a Brazilian rainbow boa constrictor.

A snake charmer
sits in front of a basket
and begins to play his flute.
A crowd gathers. Slowly a big cobra
rises from the basket.
Oooh! Everyone moves back.
The snake charmer isnt afraid.
He sways to the music.
The cobra sways too. Indian cobra From the beginning of time
people have been fascinated by snakes.
This Egyptian king
lived long ago.
His headdress had
a golden cobra on it.
The cobra stood
for the kings power
to strike at his enemies. A Greek story tells
of a monster called Medusa
who had snakes for hair.
Medusa was so scary
that everyone who saw her
turned to stone! A picture of Medusa made long ago In another old story
soldiers were fighting
the great Roman army.
They threw clay jars filled with snakes
into Roman ships.
The jars smashed.
Snakes crawled everywhere.
The terrified Romans
gave up right away. Boomslang
Even today many people
are afraid of snakes.
How strange snakes seem!
They have no arms or legs
or fur or feathers.
Their eyes never blink.
A snake slithers silently
along the ground
or wraps itself around a tree. Rattlesnake skeleton
How can a snake do that?
Doesnt it have any bones?
Yes. Rattlesnake skeleton
How can a snake do that?
Doesnt it have any bones?
Yes.

A snake has 400 bones
in its back.
You have only 33 bones
in your back.
A snakes bones are connected
by joints that bend.
Thats why it can turn and twist
its body into coils. Banded sea snake
What can a snake do
besides crawl and climb trees?
Snakes can swim. Paradise tree snake
Some snakes even seem to fly.
A tree snake spreads itself like a kite
and floats from branch to branch. Snakes live almost
everywhere in the world.
But they dont live
at the North and South Poles.
Its too cold for them.
Your blood is always about
the same temperature.
A snakes blood changes
with the temperature of the air. Western diamondback rattlesnake
A snake will die
if it gets too cold
or too hot.
Snakes that live in the hot desert
creep into holes
to hide from the sun. Two male snakes begin to fight.
They dont bite each other.
But they raise their heads
and butt each other.
The one that gets knocked down
is the loser.
The winner mates
with a female. Puff adders
Most snakes are born
in the summer.
Some snakes have live babies. Scarlet kingsnakes
Most lay eggs.
Mother snakes dont take care
of their babies.
Little snakes have to find
their own food. Western racer Eastern garter snake
What do snakes eat?
Live animals!
Insects, worms, snails,
frogs, lizards, and fish. Carpet python
Some snakes even eat bats.
They climb high trees near bat caves.