Joe Hayes is back with another unbelievable, astounding, and totally true tall tale, straight from his own childhood in the Arizona desert. One day little Joe sees a rattlesnake in trouble and saves the snake's life. Things start to get weird when the rattler follows Joe home. It's only a rattlesnake, nothing new for a desert boy like Joe, so he keeps him as a pet. His dad is annoyed and the neighbors are terrified, but soon the friendly snake slithers his way into their hearts. The snake cuddles at the foot of Joe's bed, plays in the yard, and even scares away a burglar and alarms the police--what a charmer! Is there really such a thing as cold-blooded love? "The creators of The Gum Chewing Rattler (2006) concoct another outlandish episode with a twist in its tale... A shaggy snake story certain to elicit hoots and hollers aplenty from young audiences." -- Kirkus Reviews Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He grew up in a small town in southern Arizona where he started learning Spanish from his classmates. As Hayes got older, he began reading the work of folklorists and anthropologists and gathering the old stories from the Southwest region. His books have received the Arizona Young Readers Award, two Land of Enchantment Children's Book Awards, the Texas Bluebonnet award, and the National Storytelling Network Talking Leaves Award. He lives in New Mexico. Antonio Castro L. was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life. He was awarded a prestigious Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Honor for his illustrations in My Tata's Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata . He has also illustrated several other picture books for Cinco Puntos Press, including The Gum Chewing Rattler and My Pet Rattlesnake . He lives in Tempe, Arizona.