The Scary Snakes

English
EDITION
The Scary
Snakes
Tuula Pere • Catty Flores
W
ickWick

The Scary Snakes

The Scary Snakes
Story by Tuula Pere
Illustrations by Catty Flores
Layout by Peter Stone
English translation by Mirka Pohjanrinne
Edited in English by Susan Korman
ISBN 978-952-357-298-0 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-952-357-299-7 (Sof tcover)
ISBN 978-952-357-300-0 (ePub)
First edition
Copyright © 2019 Wickwick Ltd
Published 2019 by Wickwick Ltd
Helsinki, Finland
Originally published in Finland by Wickwick Ltd in 2019
Finnish “Kauheat käärmeet”, ISBN 978-952-357-301-7 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-952-357-303-1 (ePub)
English “The Scary Snakes”, ISBN 978-952-357-298-0 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-952-357-300-0 (ePub)
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English
EDITION
The Scary Snakes
Tuula Pere • Catty Flores
W
ickWick
Children’s Books from the Heart
1

Shelly’s family of ten goes for outings in the woods. Everyone can
come along.
Today Dad’s picnic basket is full of treats. Under her arm, Mom carries
a picnic blanket. Shelly walks close to her parents and doesn’t dare to
step away from the path. She’s afraid of snakes.
Her big brother, Adrian, is not worried about anything in the forest. He
bounces back and forth and explores all the interesting spots.
2

3

The forest is full of things to see. There are big trees, small bushes,
and rocks covered with moss. Everywhere birds sing and chirp.
Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a squirrel and even a hare.
“Don’t climb too high!” Mom warns Adrian. She’s standing at the bottom
of a tree when Adrian decides to climb up to pick some pinecones.
“I’ll be careful. I’ll grab only the strong branches,” Adrian says.
4

5

6

“Shelly, come and see this! There’s a bird nest in
the bush,” Adrian exclaims.
But Shelly won’t come. She is standing in
the middle of the path with her eyes tightly
closed. She imagines snakes everywhere.
“What’s wrong? Are you too tired to
walk?” Mom asks, bending down to her.
7

“I want to get out of the forest! There are snakes here.
Even under that rock, there are many snakes!” Shelly explains
with tears in her eyes.
“Snakes are easily frightened. They hide when they hear
us coming,” Dad says, trying to reassure her.
“But snakes can bite you, and they’re poisonous! I don’t
want to take another step!” Shelly insists.
8

9

No explanation is good enough. Dad takes Shelly on his
back. Shelly lif ts her legs as high as she can, just in case.
“Help, it’s a snake!” Shelly screams.
“It’s not a snake. It’s a crow! Snakes can’t fly!”
Adrian says, laughing.
10

11

It’s time to eat. They
take the treats out of
the basket and put them on
the blanket. Shelly sits on Dad’s
shoulders throughout the meal.
“It would be much easier for you to eat here on
the blanket.”
But Shelly won’t do it. She starts crying.
“What am I going to do when I grow up, and Dad can’t
carry me anymore? I will never be able to go on family
picnics!”
12

13

Af ter the picnic in the forest, the family returns
home, tired.
“It was such a nice day!” Adrian says as he arranges
the pinecones he picked on the table.
“I want to call Grandma!” Shelly announces.
Shelly and Grandma have a long chat on
the phone. The rest of the family listens
to their conversation, curious.
“Grandma is so wise! She will come
over tomorrow to help me,” Shelly
says, relieved.
14

15

The next day, Shelly and Grandma lock themselves
away upstairs. Grandma has brightly colored
balls of wool yarn, and she spreads them on the floor.
“These are magic yarns. We can use them
to make kind little snakes for you. What
colors would you like to choose
first?”
“Let’s make a blue and red one!”
Shelly says, getting excited.
16

17

Soon Shelly’s room is filled with dif ferent kinds of
yarn snakes. There are small ones, long ones, and
thick ones. There are striped snakes and spotted snakes.
“Now all we need to do is sew on eyes and smiling
mouths,” Grandma says.
Shelly picks out buttons from the sewing box for eyes.
They stitch mouths with yarn.
18

19

When the snakes are finished, Grandma and Shelly
place them in the window, on the table, and the bed.
It’s time for a snake dance. Grandma is so funny! She knows
more silly songs than anyone—even one about hissing
snakes! The wild dance ends with all the snakes on the floor
in one big pile.
“I’m not afraid to sleep next to this one,” Shelly says and
strokes a sof t, white snake.
20

21

That weekend Grandma takes Shelly to an amusement
park. Shelly sees booths with games.
22
“Shall we go to the ball-throwing booth? I have a pretty
good arm,” Grandma says.

There is a big sign in front of the booth that reads:
Fabulous Prizes, Giant Stuf fed Toys!
Everybody wants to win the grand prize.
23

Grandma is the champion.
She gets the best score!
“Which prize do you want?” the attendant asks.
“Shelly gets to pick!”
The tail of a giant snake sticks out from behind the row of stuf fed toys.
From the other end of the shelf, a pair of shiny pearl eyes looks at Shelly.
“We’ll take that one!”
24

Feeling proud, Shelly takes the long snake and
wraps it around her neck, smiling at Grandma.
“Thanks, Grandma! Now I’m not scared at all!”
25

Shelly is afraid of snakes. One day in the woods, she
thinks she sees them everywhere and is too afraid
to walk. “How will I be able to go on a picnic when I’m
too big for Dad to carry me?” Shelly worries.
Grandma always knows what to do. Colorful snakes of
yarn and fun games help Shelly defeat her fear. And
when Grandma and Shelly visit the amusement park
together, Shelly gets a surprising prize!
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