A Snake Falls to Earth
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that A Snake Falls to Earth, by Lipan Apache author Darcie Little Badger, is a 2022 Newbery Honor Book. It's a fantasy set in the present day, featuring the dual narratives of Nina, a Lipan girl in Texas who's 9 when the story opens and 16, almost 17 for most of the action, and a little older is Oli, the snake of the title, a shy, bespectacled cottonmouth who lives in the Reflecting World of the spirits and wants nothing more than to bask peacefully on his rock. There's not much communication between the worlds any more, and there are definitely some on Earth who want to keep it that way and are happy to kill animal spirits unlucky enough to cross their path. Their stories come together as a hurricane threatens the home and safety of Nina's grandmother, who may also be the target of a murderous villain's henchmen, and Oli finds the courage and determination to gather a band of animal people and head to Earth in a desperate attempt to save their dying friend, a toad. Nina's father is a bookseller, her mom's a translator for scientists on ocean research vessels, and author Little Badger is a scientist herself, so storytelling and science are part of the rich landscape throughout. Ecosystems and their interconnectedness are strong themes. The characters and world-building are imaginative, fresh, and irresistible as the tale unfolds, with family, friendship, culture, courage, and teamwork all looming large. Occasional strong language includes "s--t" and its variations, "damn," and "a--hole."
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What's the Story?
Nina is 9 at the beginning of A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH, when her dying great-great-grandmother urgently tells her the family "historia" -- in a mix of Spanish and assorted Apache dialects Nina doesn't speak, all recorded in a translation app that makes no sense of most of it. Bit by bit over the next several years, she deciphers enough to suspect it has to do with the Reflecting World that's home to spirits, monsters, and animal people -- and connected with her family in ways she can't figure out. Meanwhile, in the Reflecting World, teen Oli, a bespectacled, nerdy, timid cottonmouth snake, embarks on a quest to save his best friend, a toad who's dying because of an extinction event on Earth -- a quest that will soon involve Nina's family, and dark forces that seem to wish harm to Nina's grandmother.
Is It Any Good?
An Apache teen girl and a bespectacled snake come together to save friends and family in Darcie Little Badger's imaginative tale of long-parted worlds. Steeped in science and mythology, A Snake Falls to Earth unfolds very much on its own terms as author Little Badger faces her complex, engaging characters with a lot of surprising challenges. Here Nina, who's heard about such beings all her life, ponders Oli and his band of animal-people friends, who've come to Earth to save their dying friend Ami the toad, and have enlisted her aid.
"In many ways, their facial expressions and behavior reminded her of their animals. That, more than anything, made Nina's heart sting with affection for her new friends. She'd known them less than twenty-four hours, and was already willing to drop everything in the middle of hurricane season just to help them save a toad."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how A Snake Falls to Earth uses myth, storytelling and science to make sense of the world. How do each of these traditions help the characters understand and deal with challenges and peril?
Do you use translation apps to help you understand what people are saying in other languages? Do you find them helpful or frustrating?
Does your family have any stories that have been passed down from generation to generation? What are they? Why are they important to your family?
Book Details
- Author: Darcie Little Badger
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Friendship, Great Boy Role Models, Great Girl Role Models, Science and Nature
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Levine Querido
- Publication date: November 23, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 12 - 18
- Number of pages: 352
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Award: Newbery Medal and Honors
- Last updated: January 24, 2022
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