Joe Hayes is back with another unbelievable, astounding, and totally true tall tale, straight from his own childhood in the Arizona desert.

One day little Joe is out in the desert, walking around, and he sees a rattlesnake in trouble. Joe saves the snake’s life! That’s when things get weird. The rattler follows Joe home. My gosh! It’s only a rattlesnake, nothing new for a desert boy like Joe, so he keeps him for a pet. His dad is annoyed, the neighbors are terrified, but soon the friendly snake slithers his way into their hearts. The snake cuddles at the foot of Joe’s bed, plays in the yard, he even scares away a burglar and alarms the police. What a charmer! Is there really such a thing as cold-blooded love?

Joe Hayes, a children’s book writer and one of America’s premier storytellers, loves telling tall tales from growing up in Arizona. Whether it’s writing stories or telling stories from the tri-cultural American Southwest, Joe is always at home celebrating the imagination of childhood. The New Mexico Library Association named Joe the Centennial Storyteller in 2010, a storyteller so good he only comes around once every one hundred years!

Antonio Castro L. was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life. The illustrator of dozens of children’s books, this is his fourth collaboration with Joe. He and his son book designer Antonio H. work on his books as a team.