Snakes! And the Boy Who Was Afraid of Them

In a delightfully subtle way, Polisar promotes self esteem through a character who thinks for himself in this companion book to “The Snake Who Was Afraid of People.” Afraid of snakes, Lenny has to endure a field trip to the zoo's snake house. He encounters taunts from his bullying classmates and little sympathy from his teacher and guidance counselor, who are pictured increasingly snake-like and menacing until the wickedly funny surprise ending. It's a book about fears that says there's nothing wrong with having them. In fact, there are some things you should be afraid of. Polisar's protagonist is a child who not only thinks for himself against a popular belief—but proves himself right. A delightfully subversive serpent metaphor.