Greedy Python ANNOTATION
A greedy python eats to excess, finally eating himself.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The Greedy Python" is quick to gobble up every creature he meets--including to his own great misfortune, himself, when he mistakes the tip of his tail for a lunchtime treat. Full-color illustrations.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
This book and its companion are ultrarich, with dust jackets just like hard covers. Carle's glittering scenes illustrate the trials of an impatient tortoise who shucks his carapace in his ambition to get around faster. Buckley's jaunty four-line verses tell what a mistake that was. ``Though faster, he was not express/ And his protection was far less. . . .'' The traveler is menaced by big birds and animals; he is scorched by the sun, chilled by an inclement wind and drenched by rain. He's glad to arrive home and don the shell he vows never to leave again. In the second book, The Greedy Python serves as a merry object lesson: ISBN 0-88708-001-4 ; $3.95. (2up)
School Library Journal
ea. vol: illus. by Eric Carle. unpaged. CIP. Picture Book Studio, dist. by Alphabet Pr. Aug. 1985. pap. $3.95. PreS-Gr 2 Combining Buckley's original verse based on Aesop's themes with Carle's bold, vibrant collages creates a dynamic collaboration. Joined artistically for two allegorical tales, the duo blend their verbal and visual talents to create well-paced suspenseful fables. At times Buckley's terminology will elude his younger readers/listeners, but the metered message maintains a familiar pattern. Thus, integrated with the illustrations, the texts flow flawlessly in their interpretations of slow but safe and of greed. With typical aplomb Carle splashes the pages with greens, yellows, browns and blues, recreating many of his popular creatures. The foolish tortoise finds that although his shell may make him slow, it also protects him from preying animals and the elements. The greedy python, having made himself sick by gobbling up every animal in sight, finds that his last greedy gulp, his own tail, is his final gulp. Of the two tales, children will take more delight in the plight of the python due to its pervasive humor, yet both stories are painless prophets of moral values. Cathy Woodward, Lima City Schools, Ohio
Home
