Why Do Snakes Hiss?: And Other Questions About Snakes, Lizards, and Turtles

by Joan Holub, Anna DiVito (Illustrator)

Many people like snakes, lizards, and turtles, and there's so much to find out about all of these scaly-skinned animals. Are all snakes poisonous? Why do snakes shed their skin? What unusual things can lizards do? Do lizards ever lose their tails? Why do turtles have shells? Kids will find the answers—and much more—in this fun, fact-filled introduction to reptiles. Filled with colorful photographs and illustrations, this is just right for any reptile lover.

Genres: Animals, Science, Nonfiction, Childrens

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

NY Times bestselling children's book author:
GODDESS GIRLS series + HEROES IN TRAINING series (w Suzanne Williams); THIS LITTLE TRAILBLAZER a Girl Power Primer; ZERO THE HERO; I AM THE SHARK. Lucky to be doing what I love!

Reviews

[Amanda]

Why Do Snakes Hiss?
Summary
This book is an informational text about reptiles. It answers many questions young readers might have about turtles, snakes, lizards, etc.

Evaluation
This is a good informational text, but it isn't written in child friendly language. This book can either be used as a read aloud, or for upper grades.

Teaching Idea
I would use this book in an interactive read aloud. I would look through the book and find key vocabulary words to turn and talk about, since they are not in bold

[Dolly]

This is a short and fact-filled book about various reptile pets. The book has lots of colorful photographs and an interesting narrative that will entertain children. It's perfect for beginning readers or for a parent to read with a child. We all learned a little more about these creatures, like the fact that geckos lick their eyes to clean them. Hmmm...we didn't know that.

I particularly liked the cautionary way that the book described these animals as pets, as cute lizards and snakes can often grow to be several feet long. And turtles can live for 80 years, so they are certainly a pet that deserves a long commitment. Overall, I thought this was a very educational book and it wasn't too long or boring. We really enjoyed reading it together.

[Lacey]

Packed with interesting facts...especially if your a seven year old boy. I just realized the other day that I have a couple copies and probably more if I start looking through my books. I think I keep buying it because it's so cool!

[Jena]

Did you know snakes can't move on smooth surfaces like glass?
Or that geckos lick their eyeballs to clean them?
Or that there are 2600 kinds of snakes, 3000 kinds of lizards, and 250 kinds of turtles?
I didn't, and that's why I enjoy these kids' science books so much.

[Jenna Bush]

This Fiction book is about snakes, how they move, why they hiss, and more! My favorite part of the book was when they asked about if they were going to go extinct, (pg 46) because I feel like they explained most in this part of that. It was okay...

[Teri]

Nice--not too long with question format.

[Andrea Labonte]

Not the best book too many questions with to much for the answers.

[Gabriel]

I liked it because it showed a lot of details about each reptile.

[Sydney Holton]

Summary

This in an informational text that teaches about different types of reptiles. It talks about what reptiles eat and their defense mechanisms that they use to survive.

Evaluation

I really like that the book is split into organized sections that makes it easy to understand the information from each section. There are also pictures of each type of reptile that is talked about, so students can refer to them when reading the text.

Teaching Ideas

This informational text would be best to use in any elementary grade level classroom for a science lesson about reptiles. The pictures could be implemented in lower grades and the text would be best for upper grade students to read.