I dedicate this book to my family.

One early morning, three cobras were chasing a mouse scurrying in the grass. The mouse was running away from the cobras.

They called one more cobra. “SK SK SK SK” and he came to them. A mongoose was hiding in the long greenish grass. He was scaring the four cobras. He had his claws out and he wanted to kill them. The cobras’ prey got away from them. The little mouse went home. He was lucky to be able to escape and feed his babies.

Suddenly, the mongoose chased the four cobras. The biggest cobra lifted his body and flattened his neck to scare his predator away. The mongoose decided to chase the smallest cobra. He grabbed the young cobra with his sharp, white teeth.

The three cobras slithered toward him, with their jaws open and their necks flattened. The mongoose ran off as fast as he could across the hills. The three cobras slithered off through the grass to look for their prey, the little mouse.

About the Author

Nathan Moon lives in Watertown, MA. He likes to ride his skateboard and dirt bike. He has a P.S.P., P.S. 3, and a P.S. 2. He likes to play baseball.

This is one of the many books that came to life while students in Mrs.

Mattson’s 3rd grade class explored the rich relationship between visual

imagery and the written word. This book was created as a part of Image-

Making Within the Writing Process, a dynamic art-and-literature-based

approach to writing developed by Beth Olshansky at the University of New

Hampshire. Image-Making uses hand-painted textured papers as the raw

materials for creating collage stories and poetry. Unlike a more traditional

writing process, within Image-Making the pictures always come first. This

offers students with diverse learning styles essential visual and kinesthetic

tools for rehearsing, drafting, and revising their ideas long before setting

pencil to paper. Image-Making was validated by the US Department of

Education as an “innovative and effective literacy program” in 1993. Today

children around the world use this process to create books in many

languages.

Spring, 2010