Get Your Slink On: 10 Picture Books for National Reptile Awareness Day

by Julie Falatko

Photo credit: Adriana Varela Photography, Moment Collection/Getty Images

National Reptile Awareness Day is October 21. What better time to read some new and old favorites about reptiles? (And if this is the first time you’re hearing about this holiday, then consider today National Reptile Awareness Day Awareness Day.)

I love reptile picture books so much that I wrote one. Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), illustrated by Tim Miller, will be published by Viking Children’s Books on February 2, 2016.

Here are ten of my favorite picture books about crocodiles, alligators, turtles, lizards, or snakes. Why no dinosaur or dragon books? Because then the list would be 85 books long. Why no frog books? Because they’re not reptiles. (It’s true, I checked.) Consider this a list of reptiles you might find today. Whether or not you’re likely to stumble across an alligator walking upright and wearing a tie is a discussion for another time.

Does each of these books make you aware of reptiles? You bet. Remember, it’s like they say: “Read about a reptile, life is worthwhile!” (Okay, maybe they don’t say that. Maybe I just made that up. But you should still read these reptile books.)