Massachusetts is home to a number of native snakes but only 2 that are poisonous, the timber rattlesnake which might be found on a sunny, rocky, ledge on Great Blue Hill in Milton, and the copperhead, and they are both very rare in Eastern Massachusetts. They hibernate all winter, so you can ski at Great Blue Hill without any problems with snakes. These books describe a number of kinds of snakes that are found all over the world. Some are poisonous but many are helpful because they eat pests like mice.
March Is Women's History Month so check our books about Women from History too.
Garter Snakes by Matt Doeden, Bridgestone Books, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN 2005
Garter snakes are the most common snakes in North America and the yellow striped snakes are very common here in Lexington, Massachusetts, and this book tells what they look like, where they live, what they eat, and about their life cycle.
Snakes by Melissa Gish, Creative Education, Mankato, MN 1999
A description, with photographs, of various snake species found all around the world, their life cycles, distinctive characteristics, and benefits to humans, including a number of common snake myths and the truth about the snake behavior described in the myths.
Amazing Snakes! by Sarah L. Thomson, photographs from the Wildlife Conservation Society, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2006
An "I can read book" for early readers who may need just a bit of help, that provides solid, factual information about many characteristics of a number of kinds of snakes.
Boa Constrictors by Matt Doeden, Bridgestone Books, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN 2005
A book with lots of facts about the Boa Constrictor family of snakes that live in the rain forests of Central and South America, and on a few Caribbean islands. They are closely related to Anacondas, and a large family of Anacondas was recently born on New Years Day 2008 at the New England Aquarium.
The Snake Scientist by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, 1999
A discussion of the work of scientist, Bob Mason, and his work to study and protect snakes and particularly the red-sided garter snakes in Manitoba, Canada.
Why Do Snakes Hiss? And Other Questions about Snakes, Lizards, and Turtles by Joan Holub, Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, NY 2004
A collection of answers to many common questions children ask about snakes and other reptiles in easy to read form.
Outside and Inside Snakes by Sandra Markle, Macmillan Books For Young Readers, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY 1995
A discussion of the diet, locomotion, reproduction, respiration, and other characteristics of snakes, such as how they hunt for food.
Snakes by Seymour Simon, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 1992
Another good description in text and photographs of the physical characteristics, habits, and natural environment, of various species of snakes, but it is a bit harder to link the photographs to the species of snake shown due to a lack of captions.
Verdi by Janell Cannon, Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, NY 1997
This fictional account of a young python that does not want to grow slow and boring, like the older snakes he sees in the tropical jungle where he lives, is nicely illustrated by the author in acrylics and pencil, who also wrote the popular children's book Stellaluna.
Rattlers and Other Snakes by Cecilia Venn, World Book, Chicago, IL, 2000
Questions and answers explore the world of snakes, with an emphasis on rattlesnakes.
Lake of the Big Snake: An African Rain Forest Adventure by Isaac Olaleye, illustrated by Claudia Shepard, Caroline House, Boyds Mills Press, Inc., Honesdale, PA 1998
This is the exciting, fictional story of how two boys, Ade and Tayo, outwit a hungry snake in a lake near their African rain forest village when they venture a bit too far.
These are links to all our other Estabrook Library book lists.
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