Aaron Slater and the Sneaky Snake

Questioneers Chapter Books #6

by Andrea Beaty

Zookeeper Fred loves snakes, but his favorite is a tiny green snake named Vern. Vern is sneaky and constantly tries to hide in Fred's lunch. When Vern gets loose in the zoo and lands atop a boy's head, it's trouble! A few citizens demand that all the snakes must go, and the Mayor closes the zoo until City Council decides what to do. Is Vern a menace? Are the snakes a danger to society, or are they a valuable resource for everyone? And who gets to decide? The Questioneers need all their talents to help Zookeeper Fred, but in the end, it's Aaron's art that leads the way.

Genres: Childrens, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Science

Audio CD

Published June 1, 2023

About the author

For more information, visit my website (www.AndreaBeaty.com).

Also, visit www.Questioneers.com for posters, activities, educator resources, and other information about the Questioneer books.

Further, check out Story Time From Space to see Ada Twist and Rosie Revere read at the International Space Station by astronauts! It’s out of this world.

https://storytimefromspace.com/ada-tw...

Reviews

[Jessica Nicole White · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should not have to police my children’s books to avoid the LGBTQ agenda. I should not have to answer questions about why this kid has two moms. We can put TW on books that adults read can we please just do this for kids books too?

[Georgette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Met and talked to Andrea about this book at a recent author dinner. Delightful lady and delightful book, even though I still hate snakes.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars (I really liked it)

There is a lot packed into this Questioneer book! You have an appreciation of art, inclusion of a hard of hearing character (and ASL), the always present love of STEM and even a reflection of our society and it's predisposition to ban anything it doesn't understand.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is another one of my petty zoo reasons.... Snakes are venomous, not poisonous. The book does finally mention venomous snakes later so that just made the mention of poisonous snakes even more glaring (venomous creatures inject toxin when they bite you, poisonous creatures unload toxins when you eat them).

The rest of the book was so good (there were even some brief graphic novel panels!) that I will try to let it slide and purchase for my school library!

[Kirsten Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaron Slater and his friends are going to help the local zookeeper with a frog habitat when a snake goes missing. While testing one of Rosie's inventions to recycle, the snake flies out of a coffee cup and lands on a child's head. The town protests and wants all snakes to be taken out of zoos. Aaron and the Questioneers come up with a plan to try to keep snakes at the zoo and teach the community how important snakes are for the environment. The illustrations are as fun as always, appearing as pencil sketches when they are meant to be Aaron's drawings. The text is simple enough for an early chapter book and the storyline is involved enough to entertain even older children. The Questioneers picture books are some of my favorites and I can now say that the chapter books live up to them. I would highly recommend this book!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beaty's characters face the challenge of a parent group protesting to ban snakes at the zoo. Readers see how rumors fly and facts are unimportant in the face of emotion and fear. Together, they figure out a way to share information about snakes and connect with many who don't understand how important they are to the envir0nment. The focus character is Aaron and his artwork as he creates a story about Vern, the snake at the middle of the controversy, and shows people how important little green snakes can be.

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

154 pgs. This is another great realistic fiction book in the Questioneers series that you will enjoy reading. This time a sneaky snake named Vern lands on the head of a tiplet and causes all kinds of commotion. As a result, the community wants to shut down the zoo and get rid of snakes! Aaron and his friends come to the rescue and see what they can do to help. This book shows how you can look at the same problem differently and develop great solutions. It is an inspiring book and will help kids take a new look at how important all animals are on our planet, plus cooperating with others. Highly recommended for Grades 3-5.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

25:2024
This book is actually fantastic. It's -technically- for middle grade readers but the messages are outstanding and succinctly and clearly delivered in story form, and I think pretty much anyone could benefit from some time spent with the Questioneers. Plus the illustrations are awesome. (I.e. Adorable and funny). I just realized that the illustrator, David Roberts, is also the illustrator for The Bolds series, which my 7th grader and I LOVE! :)

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Students will like this book more than I did. I appreciated the mixed media and the interesting illustrations. I appreciated how the kids are problem solvers and work together with their community to fix situations. As an adult, it felt a little bit preachy, but kids can learn information about lots of stuff reading this book. This book series makes sure to address all different kinds of abilities, ethnicities, talents and it is a little much for me. It tries very hard to hit all of the boxes.

[Gill James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small snake escapes from the Zoo and lands on a child’s head. This causes a rumpus.
Some parents want the zoo closed down. Aaron and his friends must fight for it to stay open. Andrea Beaty offers a balanced point of view here.
The original incident is blown out of all proportion.
This is a book for quite young children but there are some important lessons here.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Vern, the zoo keepers pet snake gets loose, community members want to ban all snakes from the zoo. It's up to Aaron Slater, and the other members of The Questioneers to help zoo keeper Fred to convince angry town members, and the mayor to not only save Vern, but the Zoo as well.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Questioneers are at it again, employing art, science, and civic engagement to save the day!

It’s easy to draw parallels to the current moment’s reactionary political efforts to censor speech and undermine public goods.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Questioneers are together again this time helping Rosie's zookeeper uncle make sure the zoo doesn't get shut down due to some misinformed citizens.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard the author speak about the metaphor of the snakes, made me want to read it. Cute story with good deeper lessons and delightful illustrations.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best book in the series because of the great family and accurate Hard of Hearing/ASL representation.

A4R3.5K3.5