The Rattlesnake Who Went To School
Native-American Crowboy is scared about going to school for the very first time. He has an interesting way of dealing with his fear. He pretends he's a mean old rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes don't care if others don't like them — they expect it. Sure enough, when he slithers under the seats, kids on the bus scream and some boys try to kick him. But he's not surprised. They can't hurt him. The teacher speaks sternly to him for hissing while the class is singing. "If you don't know the words, hum along," she says. But rattlesnakes don't hum.
But he can't scare away one little girl in his class. She isn't afraid of snakes. She tells him that she'll be his friend, as long as she can be a rattlesnake too.
Illustrations are done in chalk pastels, with a funky slithery feel to them. Crowboy changes into a rattlesnake by the second page and the illustrations reflect his imagination as he slithers and slides his way through the scenes. He only turns back into a boy at the end of the book, once he has made a friend.
This book will be high on the 'cool' scale for older kids, especially boys. As a rattlesnake, he's pretty fierce looking. And the message -- even mean old rattlesnakes will find friends at school -- will reassure kids anxious about their own first day.
Younger children might find the book too high a concept. If they believe what the illustrations are telling them (that Crowboy has really turned into a snake), then the reactions of those around him don't make much sense. The teacher smiles at him and the girl giggles when he shows his fangs and pretends to bite her.
My nearly-three-year-old felt that way the first time I read this book to him. But after I explained that the boy was just pretending, and suggested that we slither around and pretend we were rattlesnakes too, he got right into it.
