The Greedy Python

by Richard Buckley, Eric Carle (Illustrator)

Overview

In this humorous tale 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 eaten 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!

Last published as a board book in 1998, this classic story whimsically illustrated by Eric Carle returns with refreshed colors and layout, and a fresh new cover design. Children and adults alike will enjoy this hilarious tale of a snake too greedy for his own good!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416982906
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	07/07/2009
Series:	World of Eric Carle Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	111,333
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, NY,

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 most well-known book, The

Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was published in 1969

gained him immediate international recognition. Since

the Caterpillar was published, Eric Carle has illustrated

more than seventy books, including Papa,Please Get

the Moon for Me and The Tiny Seed, and more than 88

million copies of his books have sold around the

world. In 2002, Eric Carle and his wife Barbara

founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in

Amherst, MA. Eric and Barbara Carle divide their time

between the Florida Keys and the hills of North

Carolina. For more information please visit:

www.eric-carle.com and www.carlemuseum.org.

Editorial Reviews

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)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The green snake blends in very well with his surroundings. He decides to eat everything in sight. He starts with a small mouse, then a frog, bat, fish and bird—just appetizers for this glutinous snake. He then swallows a porcupine, monkey, leopard and buffalo. Is there no end to his incredible appetite? Then he swallows an elephant and that may have been just too much. All the creatures make a dreadful din until the snake, feeling quite ill, has to cough them up. Well, is this the end? No, the greedy snake spies his own tail and since he is still hungry he eats himself up—what an end. The collage illustrations by Carle are a perfect match for this delightful story. Now available in board book form for a whole new generation of kids. Do not miss the opportunity to count to ten (all the creatures that the snake gobbles up). Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

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

School Library Journal