Hide and Snake

by Keith Baker

In this amusing picture book, a colorful snake challenges children to find him as he slithers through pages of familiar objects. “Baker’s elaborate acrylic designs, variety of lush hues, and sly wit provide a feast for the eyes while maintaining the cohesive personality of the book from page to page.”-- Publishers Weekly

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Art, Fiction

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Keith Baker


Keith Baker lives in Seattle. He has written and illustrated many acclaimed picture books for young children, including the New York Times bestselling LMNO Peas; 1-2-3 Peas; Little Green Peas; Hap-pea All Year; LMNO Pea-quel; My Octopus Arms; and No Two Alike.

Reviews

[Grace Vezina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hide and Snake by Keith Baker is an entertaining book that uses the well-known game of Hide-and-Seek to engage children in finding the hiding snake on each page. The book has very few words and relies on cartoon type illustrations to engage the child in finding the snake. I was drawn to this book by the cover, which gives you an idea of the adventure inside. If you are afraid of snakes, this one looks pretty friendly! This would be a great book for a small group of children in a classroom on the floor or read aloud in a preschool or kindergarten setting. The book is a fun for kids and the adventure of finding the snake may be helpful for those children who don’t enjoy reading. I would recommend this book to children who are 3-5 years old and especially for children who are very visual and like to be challenged.

[Rachael Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh snake, oh snake, where could you be? From beginning to end, the reader must find the snake, hidden inside the objects! A great visual stimulant for readers of all ages! Looking at the front page, you may have thought they were all snakes! But a closer look into the pages and you’ll notice what the snake looks like. This is a key for your students to remember the snake. Each page is full of mesmerizing illustrations, shown in similar color tones of the snake. The reader must look hard to find the snake. A good question to ask on each page would be, “Can you find the snake’s head? Can you find the snake’s tail?”. I feel this book is similar to a “Where’s Waldo?” but on a lower level of reading. This book relies less on words, and more on illustrations. This book could be great to read aloud as a class or individually. I would recommend this book to readers in grades 1st - 4th.

[Hannah Goble · Rating 3 out of 5]

This interesting children's book relies less on words and more on imagery in order for children to try and locate the snake in the pictures. Although the idea is cute, I'm not a huge fan of the art in this book, and think it would have been much better and more effective if another art style was used. The pictures use dark, almost dirty looking colors. I am also not so sure this would be the best for children who are afraid of snakes or being outside, as the idea of a snake being in a house is enough to have me crawling up the wall. Other than that, it is a fun book for children who like puzzles and "hide and seek" type books. I would recommend this book to ages 4 to 6 and believe It would be best utilized at home.

[Maria Fekaris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hide and Snake by Keith Baker is an interactive book about a snake hiding in a variety of environments. Each page is a different scene with the snake wrapped up in it. One is in yarn, another is in toys. The illustrations in the book are very cartoon like. With bright colorful pictures and a variety of designs and patterns. This book is a great one to read to young children and stop at every page and have them try and find where the snake is. It helps them with noticing details, and surroundings. A fun activity could be they create their own scene with a snake of their own pattern hiding in it. I would recommend this book for ages preschool to 1st grade.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed finding the cute snake in this book and it made me laugh several times at how ingenious the snake was at hiding. This is not a very difficult book, but it is quite well drawn, and anyone who likes snakes and small children will enjoy it.

When I hike, I'm always looking for snakes. They are mostly harmless, but the many rattle snakes I have nearly stepped on or walked past always seem to appreciate not being stepped on. Unlike in the movies, they don't bother you, but do give them room.

[Trinity Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a great read for young students learning about poetry. This book have beautiful illustrations that tell the story of a snake who is playing hide and seek. For young kids, this could give them some inspiration to go play outside or having fun at home with their family, if they are not aloud to leave(because of covid).

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The snake is hidden pretty well in this one, which I think will is great for kids who really like to pour over books and look at the pictures. Not sure if it will work very well in a group setting.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, cute, rhyming, interactive (find the snake!)

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute story, kid's will enjoy finding the snake hiding in the pictures.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great look-and-find game-in-a-book and there are rhymes to find as well!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it plays snake hide and seek (not person hide and seek), and I like Hide and Seek. It shows lots of snakes on the cover so it's obvious it's snake hide and seek

[Caitlyn Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a good choice read aloud in a kindergarten setting because it gets the students engaged as they search for the snake while simultaneously practicing recognition of rhyming.

[Naira Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes rhyming words and descriptive pictures where children are able to find a snake.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real story line, but young kids might enjoy going through and finding the snake on each page.

[Lindsay Lodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of books that depict creatures crawling around food intended for human consumption.

[Marisa Lightfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book allows students to interact and engage as they search for the snake, and has very colorful illustrations. Great book to help students gain the recognition of rhyming.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stellar rhyming text perfect for littles, however the illustrations are quite complicated and I had trouble finding the snake.

Themes: Snakes, hiding
Ages: toddler - K
Pub year: 1991

[Nahuatl P Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tierno libro en el que hay que buscar a la serpiente de colores en cada página, recomiendo para los más prqueñitos.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book shows how creepy snakes are, but my toddler is all about it.

[Miss Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snake is hiding on each page. Look and see--can you find him?

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

my 5yo loved this find it book

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great game for one on one reading but not storytime - he hides and blends in TOO well for large audiences.

[Yesenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story Hide and Snake by Keith Baker is engaging almost wordless book. The grade level intended for this book is preschool through second grade. The story draws on the concept of a favorite children’s game, hide and seek.
The reader must try to spot where the snake is hiding off. The cover of the book gives a glimpse of what the reader must do throughout the book. The snake hides in various familiar objects with different patterns. There are some pages that the snake is not hiding that well, thus allowing some readers to gain the familiarity and confidence for the more challenging pages.
The medium for the book is acrylic painting with a cartoon media style. The illustrations are large and colorful, perfect for any age. The illustrator uses creative ways to hide the snake within the various objects. The book has a double-spread that makes it ideal to engage the readers in the game. One of my favorite examples is how one of the vases, uses the same pattern as the snake but with mutated colors. Another great example is when the snake is in the toys, in which there is a stuffed snake to confuse the reader.
I liked this book because sometimes children tend to view reading as boring and worrisome. And although there are few vocabulary words, children will learn to love books and maybe later on might engage in other reading books. I believe that this book opens the reader’s eyes to explore such books, despite its limited text, like the I-spy books.
I rated this book a two. Although the book is fun for students and it helps them pay close attention, a skill they need, the story seems more appropriate for fun time, or independent reading.

[Gwen Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hide and Snake" was a cute book that illustrated all the places that snakes can hide and blend in quite well. Most people are scared of snakes and don't like to think about running into one, and that is one reason I only gave this book three stars. The very last pages said "I'm hiding from you in so many places." which would freak several people out and make them nervous about where a snake might be hiding from then on. Other than that, I thought it was a delightful book that small children would really enjoy.
Something the illustrator did that helped the fact that the book was about snakes was giving him a smiling face. This made the snake seem so much more friendly and nice than what a normal snake would be like. I think this would make small children enjoy it more than if they had drawn a realistic snake that looks scary. It seemed like it was mostly for younger children because it was a seek and find book for the most part. They whole point of each page was to find where the snake was hiding, which would be super fun for young ones. You could also talk with them about all the other things depicted on the page and discuss what they are used for and why the snake would be good at hiding there.
This book opens up the floor for lots of conversation and learning and I enjoyed it.

[Joshua Cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keith Baker's very creative children's book is one every child can relate to as it refers to the very popular game of Hide-and-Seek. This book can serve as great entertainment. The game "Hide and Snake" challenges kids to find the snake while he is hiding in very strange places as he is "frosting the cakes" and "melting in ice cream." Although it does have a few words per page it is still considered a wordless book and what few words there are flow very nicely together. "Curling 'round hats, and napping with cats" is an example of how Baker added rhyming in his children's book. The illustrations are incredible, for even I had difficulty finding the snake in several pictures. This would keep the kids attention and might take them a little while, but I know they would find great joy in finally finding the snake, because even I did! This would be a great read aloud in a Preschool or Kindergarten classroom.

[Robyn Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hide and Snake
by Keith Baker
40 pages
Published by Sandpiper (3/27/95)
Gifted to my son

My four year old has just reached the developmental stage where he loves "I Spy" type books. His face lights up when he finds the hidden picture. Hide and Snake feeds into this new interest perfectly. In each set of pages, there's a hidden snake about. You'll be tricked by scarves and hoses and even a line of toothe paste. You'll be delighted by the folk art illustrations. You'll love competing with your little one to find that beedy little eye that tells you where the head is. I did not always win. At the end of the read, my son grabbed the book from me and held it tight. "Mom, this one belongs to us." Meaning, "We're not returning this one to the library." Enough said right there.

[Timothy Luken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice clever and tricky children's book! The story has the reader follow a snake throughout the pages. However its not as easy as it seems because you must find the snake throughout the pages hiding around different objects such as vases. I enjoyed the book however I think it was ended abruptly and cuts the reader off. The illustrations were very clever, sticking with the same colors to help challenge the reader to find the snake. The dialogue is very short on purpose, but I think that it does a great job anyways of moving the story along and helping the reader. I would say this is more of a 1st to 2nd grader's book because of the slight difficulty of getting through this book. However, I believe also that this book would be great to use with kids in Special Education as a one on one exercise with students who have disabilities. A fun and challenging book for kids to read!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hide and Snake, by Keith Baker, is an almost wordless picture book that I think children would really love! It is very easy to read and the text flows well with the illustrations. The text curves around the pictures, which is fun. There are lots of colors and on each page the snake is hidden somewhere in the picture. On the first page, the snake is hidden among yarn balls and you have to find him. I think this is something that kids would really love. I even enjoyed finding him on each page. Another aspect of this book that I like is the fact that it rhymes. Kids enjoy rhyming and it is done well in Hide and Snake. It says, "I'm looping through yarn, curling 'round hats, wrapping 'round presents, and napping with cats." This book is a simple read but still fun and interesting.

[Riana (RianaInTheStacks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this picture book because though it is an eye spy sort of book, which is great for working out the brain, it also doesn’t solely rely on that aspect. In Hide and Snake, there are also words accompanying each spread where the snake has found a new place to hide and these words give you clues as to where you may be finding the snake based on the adjective used for that environment. Furthermore, I love the different patterns throughout the artwork of the book and I love the movement of the book, it truly seems like the snake is slithering from the cover, across each of the pages, and onto the back of the book. Very cute book that does a great job of connecting illustration with words and purpose.