SNAKE CHARMER

Exotic and down-to-earth at the same time, this scrapbook of images of a family whose father and grandfather practice the ancient art of snake charming intrigues visually and textually. Nagda (Tiger Math, 2000, etc.) writes sympathetically about the interconnections between people and animals. Vishnu, the nine- or ten-year old boy who is the focus of this photo essay would like to follow his male relatives, but his father knows that conditions in India are changing. The government, concerned with conservation, is starting to look askance on the men who use snakes for entertainment purposes. Sher Singh would like his son to stay in schools and grow up to “have a better job.” The snake charmers work in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, in northern India, but come home often to their village, Mania. Most of the photos show the family and their neighbors as they go about their daily activities: bathing, preparing chapatis, collecting firewood and cow dung for fuel, and attending the village school. Vishnu also accompanies his father as he hunts for new snakes and enjoys the performance he gives for the villagers. Tej, the younger brother, even gets into the act playing the snake flute, whose movement and not the music itself is really the key to snake-charming. Although some of the individual photos lack clarity, the overall design, incorporating decorative borders and folk-art elements on pastel-colored pages, holds the eye. The informative afterword on snake-charming, less accessible than the main text, places this traditional art within a larger context. No bibliography or index is provided. Although intrinsically interesting and true to the village setting, one wishes for a wider glimpse of contemporary India. When will these pictures show the son of a computer programmer or a scientist? (Nonfiction. 7-10)