The Crooked Snake
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Patricia Wrightson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Margaret Horder |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fiction |
| Publisher | Angus and Robertson |
Publication date | 1955 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 153pp |
| Followed by | The Bunyip Hole |
The Crooked Snake (1955) is the first novel by Australian author Patricia Wrightson. The book was illustrated by Margaret Horder. It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1956.[1]
Plot outline
A gang of children form a secret society to protect a nearby national park from vandals. They record the bush with a camera and write to the Ministry of Conservation requesting the park be designated a flora and fauna sanctuary.
Critical reception
In a survey of Australian children's books dealing with the Australian bush, Susan Sheridan and Emma Maguire noted: "In their preferred method of research, and in their dealings with the bureaucracy, these children mark out a specifically modern, as well as Australian, mode of the Enid Blyton or Arthur Ransome adventure story in a natural setting."[2]