Snakes

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Like previous books in the Wildlife Series, Skunks and Snakes combine
excellent, highly realistic, watercolour illustrations with short,
information-packed prose to produce visually appealing volumes that are
both informative and easy to read.

The text is divided into two-page mini-chapters. Those in Skunks cover
the different kinds of skunks (there are four in North America: spotted,
striped, hooded, and hog-nosed), where they live, parts of their bodies,
how they protect themselves, how they move, what they eat, how they
gather food, their offspring, and how they grow and learn.

Chapters in Snakes look at where they live, the parts of their body (a
cross-section diagram in this chapter reveals the reptile’s internal
anatomy), the different kinds of snakes around the world (which shows
pictures of snakes from different continents), and snakes and people.

Each mini-chapter features a small fact box that highlights an
important aspect about the species, such as “Skunks will eat
snakes—even poisonous rattlesnakes!” and “There are no wild snakes
in New Zealand, Newfoundland, Ireland or on many other islands.” A
glossary and an index rounds out each book.

Well-written and superbly illustrated, these books are perfect
reference choices. Highly recommended.