The Rattlesnake Who Went to School

Out in the Southwest, young "Crowboy" has unsettled disturbing thoughts about his first day at school. In Lynne Cravath's colorful illustration, swirling images pour from Crowboy as he lies awake, scared and worried. What can one young boy do to face the imagined onslaught? Like so many kids, he takes on a new persona, a protective, "tough" image: "So when Crowboy woke up, he decided to become a snake. Not just any old snake-a mean old rattle snake with very sharp teeth. He crawled downstairs to eat breakfast in one smooth slither." Cravath draws him as a snake--a fearsome snake with big eyes and a long red tongue. On the bus, the snake scares the kids by wrapping himself around their legs (in a nice touch, the words wrap around the page too). It turns out that this isn't an entirely successful coping style, for some of the kids scream and try to kick him. But the boy rationalizes this away: "Crowboy didn't mind. Snakes are used to kicks and screams." This is one scared boy heading for trouble, even if he thinks his snakedom makes him a safe outcast. He won't sing, and he pretends to bite some potential friends. However, when one disarming girl with big eyes and a kind heart befriends him, shows that she's not afraid, and even accepts his snake status (in a great picture that combines weird, "ugly," yet friendly images, Cravath shows the bagful of oddly shaped worms and insects that the girl brought for Crowboy's lunch!). Though Crowboy rejects the rattlesnake lunch, he accepts her offer of friendship-and he sheds his snakeskin. They agree that they'll be snakes together, although the last page shows them as boy and girl happily climbing a play structure. Although the girl is too idealized, and the resolution too quick, this books shows (rather than lectures) how kids adopt different fronts to hide their real feelings. I liked the example of a girl and boy befriending each other, and the girl's implicit understanding and acceptance. While the story is thin, and fairly one-dimensional, Cravath's imaginative pictures and convincing use of local color highlight the book. The book jacket explains some of this apparent authenticity: Lynn Cravath lived five years on the White Mountain Apache Indian reservation, and she now resides in Phoenix.