The Greedy Python

A classic tale of a greedy snake, with illustrations from Eric Carle, is now available as a Ready-to-Read.

In this humorous story about manners, respect, and friendship, a greedy python eats every creature he comes across in the jungle. From a tiny mouse to an enormous elephant, the devoured animals eventually befriend one another in the belly of the snake, where they team up and kick the inside of the python until he spits them out. Rather than learning his lesson, the python sticks to his greedy ways. When he spots his own tail and mistakes it for food, he swallows himself and...disappears!
     This amusing—and cautionary—tale features Eric Carle’s vivid illustrations and rhyming text that’s been adapted into a Level 1 Ready-to-Read, making it ideal for sharing aloud with emerging readers.

Richard Buckley is a much-traveled English writer of both prose and poetry. He has lived in New York, Paris, and London, but his present home is in Cheltenham, England, where he has lived for the past thirty years, bringing up two sons with his wife (and muse) Elfie. His books for children include The Dutiful Penguin, The Foolish Tortoise (with Eric Carle), The Greedy Python (with Eric Carle), and The Bird Who Couldn’t Fly (with Alex Williams).

Eric Carle (1929–2021) was acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children, including Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me; Have You Seen My Cat?; and The Tiny Seed. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has been translated into seventy languages and sold over fifty-five million copies. Carle illustrated more than seventy books, many bestsellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 170 million copies of his books have sold around the world. In 2003, Carle received the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for lifetime achievement in children’s literature. In 2002, Eric and his wife, Barbara, cofounded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (CarleMuseum.org) in Amherst, Massachusetts, a 40,000-square-foot space dedicated to the celebration of picture books and picture book illustrations from around the world, underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form. Eric Carle passed away in May 2021 at the age of ninety-one. His work remains an important influence on artists and illustrators at work today. Find out more at Eric-Carle.com.