I recently watched a documentary about the problems Florida has with Pythons. What started out as a few snakes in the late 70's has now blossomed into thousands, if not millions, of the large snakes causing havoc in the Florida ecosystem. This book explains the problem in an age appropriate manner for middle grade age children, with color photos and scannable QC codes that load supplemental videos and other information.

This book would be great supplemental reading for a science class or just for a fun, interactive reading experience. It is written for children, but as an adult I still enjoyed reading about the snakes, the problems they cause and what is being done to solve the problem.

Great book! Very enjoyable interactive reading experience!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Lerner Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

This is one of those books I found absolutely fascinating to read and would never in a million years want to experience myself. Not because of the snakes (I like snakes) or the dissection parts (I'm not particularly squeamish) but because the thought of being out in a humid swamp with tons of mosquitos is my idea of hell, surpassed only by the addition of large numbers of people. This is why, among other reasons, I no longer live in the south!

However, despite the drawbacks of field research, Messner's enthusiasm for learning about these beautiful but destructive creatures shines through. She accompanies and interviews scientists, interns, and wildlife experts as they try to manage the rapidly growing population of Burmese pythons that are devastating Florida's fragile ecosystem.

Readers will learn about pythons and other invasive species, methods of containment and eradication, the current state of python invasion in Florida (not good) and how scientists are learning more about the snakes so they can try to better protect native wildlife. There's plenty of back matter, further information, and individual interviews with scientists, including how they got involved in this project.

Verdict: Fluent readers and science lovers will be fascinated by this story. There are copious photographs and smaller bites of information to break up the narrative and a variety of perspectives are shown. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781541557062; Published March 2020 by Millbrook; Purchased for the library