Dislike is too strong a word to describe my reaction to Hazel Hutchins’ What the Snakes Wrote; ambivalence may be better. There’s nothing wrong with the book, but there’s nothing particularly right about it either. It’s just kind of there, sitting on the shelf, neither the begged-for and bedraggled bedtime story nor the beautifully illustrated keepsake from a well-meaning aunt.

Perhaps the clunky pacing is to blame. Rufus, a googly-eyed farm mutt with a kerchief and time to kill, discovers that the resident snakes are trying to communicate with him by spelling out words with their bodies. It takes several attempts for him to decipher their message, and then he has a pair of misunderstandings with the farmer before successfully conveying the slithery creatures’ missive. As the story continues, there is little increase in humour and no sense of urgency, rising stakes, or anticipation despite Rufus’s numerous failures.

Tina Holdcroft’s illustrations are cartoonish but clever. Rufus looks a bit dopey, but it’s the kind of open, goofy dopiness that  kids will gravitate to, even as adult readers wish for more variation in his expression.

The snakes’ messages are conveyed through the artwork, which could be used as a game encouraging early readers to figure them out along with Rufus, and there are enough twists and turns to keep kids interested. However, the story ends with a heavy-handed lesson, followed by an appendix of facts about snakes. It’s a bit of a let-down: an ordinary carrot when you’d hoped for some carrot cake.