An attractive, well-written easy reader. . . . Make a place for Snakes in primary-level nonfiction collections.

The excitement of the subject will lure new readers to this title in the [Penguin Young Readers series]. The text is packed with information about snakes’ size, feeding habits, etc., and, of course, the most fascinating parts are about how they catch their prey. Moffatt makes strong use of collage cutouts to achieve a textured 3-D effect, which is especially dramatic when the hungry rattlesnake is coiled up in one picture and then stretched out, flashing its fangs, across the next double-page spread. There’s the same visceral horror when the python swallows a whole pig that “sits in one big lump inside the snake.” Held by the subject, kids won’t even realize that they’re learning to read.