The Girl Who Wore Snakes

by Angela Johnson illustrated by James E. Ransome

Transcript

00:00The Girl Who Wore Snakes Story by Angela Johnson

00:16Paintings by James E. Ransom To George Clinton and all the members of Parliament

00:21Funkadelic for the music that inspires me to reach inside and create.

00:27J.R. To Karen Burgess with love.

00:31A.J. When the man from the zoo came to Ali's school.

00:36He brought Sylvia the snake. She was brown yellow and orange and made Ali

00:42think of the sun and the earth and everything in between.

00:45The zoo man said. Who wants to hold her?

00:50Ali said, me. And wore Sylvia the brown yellow and orange snake all day long.

00:57Around her neck. Around her arms.

01:00And around her ankles. After Sylvia went back to the zoo.

01:06Ali became the girl who wore the snake. Then one day at the pet store Ali became

01:12the girl who bought all the snakes and wore them home.

01:16Her parents said. Why snakes?

01:20Why not dogs birds cats or fish? And they wondered where she got her love

01:25of snakes. Her friends said.

01:29Are you going to wear those things to the picnic?

01:32Her teacher said. Take the snakes off during the test.

01:37All of this was fine with Ali because her snakes were beautiful in the sun,

01:42beautiful in the moon, and even beautiful in the windowsill of the kitchen.

01:47But no one except Ali could see how beautiful they really were.

01:52Until one day Ali went on vacation to visit her old aunts.

01:57The first one said. No snakes in the house.

02:02The second one said. Don't they eat small animals?

02:07And the third one said. Nasty things.

02:11But then the fourth aunt said. That one would look nice around my arm Ali.

02:17It reminds me of the sun and the earth and everything in between.

02:22Then Ali knew how she became the girl who wore snakes around her neck.

02:27Around her arms. Around her ankles.

02:31And thought again that they reminded her of the sun and the earth and everything in between.

02:37The end.