Slinky, Scaly Snakes!

I made a conscious effort to expand my sons' reading materials with more non-fiction topics after reading part of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius that deals with reality, imagination and fantasy.  I wanted to get away from books that have talking dogs, etc., or at least, provide more of a balance between the talking dogs and real-life topics.  

I also wanted to give my oldest some slightly more advanced reading materials / pre-reader types of books.  One of our selections is Slinky, Scaly Snakes!  A DK reader book (Level 2).  

He loves it.  And I'm happy to report that a non-fiction book has sparked his imagination!  He proudly proclaimed that three wiffle balls were his snake eggs, and that he was the mommy snake and I (mom) was the daddy snake.   It is also very cute when he has pulled out the book and said we haven't read it in a long time when our last read was two nights ago. 

The book has good photos of snakes. It covers snakes' hunting, killing and swallowing prey honestly, and shows snakes eating eggs, rats, and a gazelle.  OK, that's kind of icky, but it is how nature works, and it hasn't frightened my son at all. 

There is a mystery photo in this book I am trying to figure out.  Can anyone help decipher what this photo is?   It is on page 23, and the previous page talks about egg-eating snakes, and one that is eating a bird egg.  The text reads:

The egg makes a big bulge in the snake's body.

The egg breaks inside the snake.

Then the snake spits out the shell.

See the bottom photo? It looks like a clear bubble on top of something and I can't tell if it's part of the snake, or the egg, or what exactly is shown.  Any ideas?  I might have to email the zoo and ask for help.

The fish, amphibian and reptile building is one of my son's favorites at the Milwaukee County Zoo, and so I was hopeful that Slinky, Scaly Snakes! would be a hit, and it is.  

I encourage families to explore non-fiction and science books to enhance your children's collections.

DK Readers: Slinky, Scaly Snakes (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone)

Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius