BIOGRAPHY OF A KING SNAKE

By the author of the popular Biography of a Leaf, this is uninflected and sluggish as life cycle texts go. Nevertheless, the king snake's eventful career as a hunter and fighter is a guaranteed attention holder; early on he eats a weaker brown snake (Michini shows the hapless victim engorged whole), and once the growing king is strong enough he escapes a hungry hawk, does battle with a rattler (kings are immune to rattlesnake venom) and fights a rival for a female king's affections. Simple but, needless to say, the subject is gripping.