"My Pet Rattlesnake is an illustrated tall tale from the Southwest that takes some getting used to, but ends with a giant chortle. Told from a boy’s viewpoint, the story depicts a desert rattlesnake who follows him home from his day in the desert and applies for family adoption. Some unlikely everyday situations are humorously described and illustrated. A key to the trickster element of the take smiles out from the rattlesnake’s laughing fanged expression: Comic relief and gallows humor combine effortlessly. My Pet Rattlesnake ends with a bang or a rattle, and like all tall tales, grows taller with the telling."