When Fred the Snake and Friends Learn the Chinese Zodiac and the Great Race

by Peter B. Cotton

This is the tenth book in the series about Fred the lovable snake and his human and animal friends. Having completed exploring the USA, he goes back to school and meets two Chinese kids. They teach him all about the Chinese Zodiac calendar in which 12 animals represent years in rotation. 2025 is the year of the snake! The order is determined by how the animals finish in the Great Race. Let’s go!

44 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2025

About the author

Peter Cotton is a semi-retired Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston. He grew up in England, and graduated as a doctor in 1963 from Cambridge University and St. Thomas Hospital Medical School (London). He joined the faculty of the Middlesex Hospital and Medical School where he developed a new department integrating medical and surgical gastroenterology. Peter left England in 1986 to become Professor of Medicine at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. He moved again to Charleston, South Carolina in 1994 to initiate the Digestive Disease Center at MUSC. Peter has been active in many National and International organizations and has given invited lectures and demonstrations in over 50 countries. His bibliography includes more than 900 medical publications and 11 medical textbooks.
His stories about Fred the snake started as a bedtime story for his kids to remind them how (not) to cross the road. When they had their kids, they asked “what happened to Fred-Fred”. Peter found a wonderful illustrator (Bonnie Lemaire) and published “When Fred the Snake was Squished and Mended”. This proved popular and he got on a roll, with now 10 books about Fred, managed by Bublish inc. After recovering from squishing, Fred went to school with the boy, received some friends from Jungle Jim, explored Charleston, went to the beach, and then went camping. Books 7,8, 9 have Fred and friends touring the sights of the USA. The books have been well reviewed and gained several awards including 5 Mom’s choice gold medals. Reviewers have compared his work to Lewis Carroll, Dr Suess, Roal Dahl and Hilliare Belloc.. Peter and Marion Cotton live on Dewees Island, SC. They are blessed with 4 “children”, 8 grands and 4 great grands. They enjoy family, friends, travel, wildlife and golf.
More about the books at www.petercottontales.com
He is not named after a rabbit.

Reviews

[Patricia de Hemricourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an entertaining rhyming story. The way the author explains the order of the Chinese zodiac signs through a race works well, and the lively and colorful illustrations support the storyline.
Loved the list of 'missions' at the end.