A classic tale of a greedy snake, with illustrations from Eric Carle, is now available as a Ready-to-Read.

     In this humorous story about manners, respect, and friendship, a greedy python eats every creature he comes across in the jungle. From a tiny mouse to an enormous elephant, the devoured animals eventually befriend one another in the belly of the snake, where they team up and kick the inside of the python until he spits them out. Rather than learning his lesson, the python sticks to his greedy ways. When he spots his own tail and mistakes it for food, he swallows himself and...disappears!

     This amusing—and cautionary—tale features Eric Carle’s vivid illustrations and rhyming text that’s been adapted into a Level 1 Ready-to-Read, making it ideal for sharing aloud with emerging readers.

Richard Buckley is a much-traveled English writer of both prose and poetry. He has lived in New York, Paris, and London, but his present home is in Cheltenham, England, where he has lived for the past thirty years, bringing up two sons with his wife (and muse) Elfie. His books for children include The Dutiful Penguin, The Foolish Tortoise (with Eric Carle), and The Bird Who Couldn’t Fly (with Alex Williams).

Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Germany with his parents when he was six years old. He studied at the Academy of Graphic Arts in Stuttgart before returning to the United States, where he worked as a graphic designer for The New York Times and later as art director for an international advertising agency. His first two books, 1,2,3 to the Zoo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, gained him immediate international recognition. The latter title, now considered a modern classic, has sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated into forty-eight languages. Eric Carle and his wife, Barbara, divide their time between the mountains of North Carolina and the Florida Keys.