TIMOTHY AND THE SNAKES

Young naturalists -- and chiefly boys- will be fascinated by this story of how Tim learned about handling snakes in his new home in the California desert. His ambition was to earn enough to buy a bicycle, and when his father offered $1 for every snake, dead or alive, that was brought to him, Tim took him literally, and with a Mexican friend set about hunting horned rattlers. More by good luck than by intelligent handling, they were successful in their venture, but Tim's father drove home the seriousness of the peril they had run, and Tim learned how to cope with dangerous reptiles -- and not to court danger. This story, with its central theme and round of daily events is made vivid through the author's appreciation of locale and indigenous animal life.