Old Ben (Juvenile Series)

For Shan, it began as an ordinary summer's day. He was doing what he liked best, walking barefoot down a wellworn cow path to a clover field where he knew a sweet apple tree grew.

Then he met Old Ben, a big bull black snake, sunning himself in the clover, and that summer day and all the days that followed, until early fall, became extraordinary.

"The only good snake is a dead snake." That's what Shan's father had always said. But Old Ben with his gentle, friendly ways changed that saying and brought a new understanding about snakes to every member of Shan's family. --This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title