In this hilarious non-fiction chapter book series, a savvy cockroach shares wise tips and tricks to surviving an encounter with a charming predator who may (or may not) want to be your friend.
Celeste is a cockroach, and everyone knows that cockroaches are survivors, so who better to give advice on surviving an encounter with a polite predator? Everyone also knows that taking a moonlit promenade with a deadly reticulated python (named Frank) is a very bad idea. But Celeste loves very bad ideas, and she is willing to put your life on the line to prove herself right! Need to stop a python from swallowing you head-first? Wear a lamp shade as a hat! Want to speed up a three-hundred-pound snake? Try roller skates! What's the perfect light snack for a python? A chicken! Using her superior pythonine knowledge, Celeste comes up with various strategies and solutions -- many dangerous, most absurd, but all based on the biology of pythons. Meanwhile, Frank is hatching his own plans.
Rachel Poliquin has created a delightfully preposterous premise that, combined with Kathryn Durst's hilarious illustrations, will have readers laughing out loud as they learn about python biology and hunting behavior.
WINNER
| 2023 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award
SELECTION
| 2024 Texas Topaz Reading List
One of Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens, Fall 2021
“Durst's digitally finished crayon pencil pictures are appropriately lively and goofy, and her naïve anatomical graphs are equally comical and effective. Try this at storytime, when it’s likely to please both snake-lovers and snake-haters.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Rachel Poliquin has given Celeste a chatty voice that keeps the facts-filled text from sounding pedantic, and Kathryn Durst . . . extends it with her comically funny depiction of the characters and their actions.” —Montreal Gazette
“A clever and entertaining approach to discovering the pertinent factual aspects of pythons while enjoying a goofy, easy-to-read story.” —CM Magazine
RACHEL POLIQUIN is a writer engaged in all things orderly and disorderly in the natural world. With a cross-disciplinary background in visual arts, cultural history and natural history, she holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of British Columbia and a Post-Doctoral Degree in History from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rachel is the author of the Polite Predators and Superpower Field Guide series, and other children's books including Beastly Puzzles. She has also written for Science Friday, The Believer Magazine, and the New York TimesView titles by Rachel Poliquin
KATHRYN DURST is a graduate of Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. She has a background in animation, having interned with Pixar Animation Studios. Kathryn has illustrated numerous children's books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller from Paul McCartney, Hey Grandude!. When she is not illustrating books, she can be found playing the accordion, growing vegetables, folk dancing or putting on shadow puppet shows. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her grumpy mini dachshund named Chili Dog.
View titles by Kathryn Durst
In this hilarious non-fiction chapter book series, a savvy cockroach shares wise tips and tricks to surviving an encounter with a charming predator who may (or may not) want to be your friend.
Celeste is a cockroach, and everyone knows that cockroaches are survivors, so who better to give advice on surviving an encounter with a polite predator? Everyone also knows that taking a moonlit promenade with a deadly reticulated python (named Frank) is a very bad idea. But Celeste loves very bad ideas, and she is willing to put your life on the line to prove herself right! Need to stop a python from swallowing you head-first? Wear a lamp shade as a hat! Want to speed up a three-hundred-pound snake? Try roller skates! What's the perfect light snack for a python? A chicken! Using her superior pythonine knowledge, Celeste comes up with various strategies and solutions -- many dangerous, most absurd, but all based on the biology of pythons. Meanwhile, Frank is hatching his own plans.
Rachel Poliquin has created a delightfully preposterous premise that, combined with Kathryn Durst's hilarious illustrations, will have readers laughing out loud as they learn about python biology and hunting behavior.
Awards
WINNER
| 2023 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award
SELECTION
| 2024 Texas Topaz Reading List
Reviews
One of Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens, Fall 2021
“Durst's digitally finished crayon pencil pictures are appropriately lively and goofy, and her naïve anatomical graphs are equally comical and effective. Try this at storytime, when it’s likely to please both snake-lovers and snake-haters.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Rachel Poliquin has given Celeste a chatty voice that keeps the facts-filled text from sounding pedantic, and Kathryn Durst . . . extends it with her comically funny depiction of the characters and their actions.” —Montreal Gazette
“A clever and entertaining approach to discovering the pertinent factual aspects of pythons while enjoying a goofy, easy-to-read story.” —CM Magazine
Author
RACHEL POLIQUIN is a writer engaged in all things orderly and disorderly in the natural world. With a cross-disciplinary background in visual arts, cultural history and natural history, she holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of British Columbia and a Post-Doctoral Degree in History from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rachel is the author of the Polite Predators and Superpower Field Guide series, and other children's books including Beastly Puzzles. She has also written for Science Friday, The Believer Magazine, and the New York TimesView titles by Rachel Poliquin
KATHRYN DURST is a graduate of Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. She has a background in animation, having interned with Pixar Animation Studios. Kathryn has illustrated numerous children's books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller from Paul McCartney, Hey Grandude!. When she is not illustrating books, she can be found playing the accordion, growing vegetables, folk dancing or putting on shadow puppet shows. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her grumpy mini dachshund named Chili Dog.
View titles by Kathryn Durst
