We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes

Author:  Patrick Jennings

Rating:  *  (1 star out of 3 possible, "C")
             Recommended with Reservations

Audience:  5th Grade and Up

"I had shed a skin the day of my capture."

With this great "hook" sentence, Jennings begins an animal story written from the viewpoint of Crusher, the gopher snake.  Most of the fun in this 120 page book comes from looking at human life through the eyes of a reptile:

"The kid's den was a big white box inside a bigger white box.  My fellow prisoners and I were kept individually in small glass boxes with wire mesh roofs and dirt floors.  The prisoners in the other boxes were a tarantula, a desert tortoise, and an alligator lizard."

And:

"Before going to sleep that night on a springy, flat box, the kid shed some skin.  It was then I learned he was a male--what they call a boy.  He slid on some fresh skins that he took from a box that he pulled out of a larger box.  Humans are bizarre."

The "kid" is named Gunnar and he is the particularly obnoxious preteen antagonist Jennings uses to illustrate the ignorance of some human beings.  Gunnar doesn't care intelligently for the wild pets he captures, spends a wasteful amount of time playing video games, and shows mild disrespect for parents.

"Despite his mother's instructions, Gunnar spent the morning in front of the 'teevee,' jabbing and cursing.  I could not understand why he preferred this to going outside."

Having a foil like Gunnar is not a drawback of the book.  It is useful for our kids to see these behaviors exposed by someone other than an authority figure, say, a snake for instance.  Kids will quickly see through Gunnar and aspire to something better.

While the author twice mentions Gunnar cursing during a pre-adolescent temper tantrum, curse words are not used.  Jennings is honest enough, however, to let us peak inside the slang dialogue boys are apt to use, again in such a way as to make the behavior unattractive to impressionable readers.  God's name is taken in vain about 3 times:  "Careful, Mom!  God, you'll kill him!" for example.  There are two rude put-downs in the book:  "Eat me!"  (particularly intriguing to the reptiles) and "Shut your big fat hole," probably the most offensive line in the book.  I mention this so parents aren't surprised, and again, the context is appropriate for the rudeness of those particular characters.

Readers will also want to be aware that the parents in this book are somewhat ineffectual--throwing their hands up in the exasperation of raising an adolescent, then spoiling him in the next chapter.  While this parental relationship sounds a little negative, it's helpful to stress that Gunnar's parents are present and mostly engaged in their family life, while facing typical struggles that readers can relate to.

Positive humans are also present in the characters of Matthew, Gunnar's one friend who displays intelligence and compassion, and Ms. Tullbee, the principal who displays authority and commands respect at the school pet show.

Because I introduced my kids to a lot of animal stories early in life, they've developed a love for science and a mild addiction to any books about nature and animals.  Sometimes this means I have to sort out a lot of environmental or evolutionary messages.  I'm aware of the risks of anthropomorphism as well as the tendency of the current age to see animals on an equal plane with humans.  I'm happy to engage this debate and find it pretty easy to instruct my kids on natural stewardship issues.  Respecting God's creation is a worthy value to instill in our kids.  I'll take such a debate over Barbie and Disney any day.

After saying "no thanks" to an immature adolescent like Greg Heffley in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, readers might question why I think more highly of this book.  Partly it's the science lessons woven into the plot.  Partly its my Gary Larson/Far Side sense of humor: a snake narrates a book?!  Mostly it's that Gunnar is beginning to see the consequences of his actions as his pets die or escape.  Crusher sums it up after his escape:

"Despite all he'd done to me-and to all the other creatures he'd captured, especially poor Rex-I forgave Gunnar.  I hoped he would see the errors of his ways as he matured."