Why I Chose to Read A Snake Falls to Earth

Born in Colorado to a white father who joined the American Indian Movement and got arrested on more than one occasion while advocating for Indigenous friends and neighbors, I knew I wanted to grow my library of YA recommendations with multiple texts centering Native American stories. Additionally, as a professed hater of fantasy who knows very well how many students LOVE fantasy, I thought this hybrid could serve me well.

Teaching Considerations

Audience: Booksellers list this as “grades 5-9.” I wish the range were expanded to include all high schoolers. One of the most powerful elements of this book is its thematic depth. I worry some of that might be lost on younger readers.

Key Themes: heritage, identity, modern vs. traditional living, connection to nature, environmental responsibility, family, friendship, storytelling, and technology.

Grouping Recommendation: This could be a great option for student choice in a unit on fantasy vs. realism. I’d love to divide my class into thirds and have one third read this hybrid, one third read the full-on fantasy book Children of Blood and Bone, and the last third read the full-on realist (fiction) book I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. Alternate texts with male protagonists: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky.

Instructional Ideas:

CHARACTER

Between Nina and her four generations of family, plus nightmare neighbor Paul on Earth, and Oli and all the monsters, animal friends, and foes in the Reflecting World, I’m astounded Darcie Little Bear was able to keep track of them. Amazingly, she did so, and she gave them all arcs! Even the mockingbird shapeshifter’s story comes full circle.

STORY

I find it hard to pin down a paramount emotional story in A Snake Falls to Earth. With the dueling protagonists, Nina searches for her own identity through interactions and research regarding the older generations of women in her family. Oli seeks his adult identity through a found, diverse, animal family. Perhaps it’s the environmental arc, which connects everything. The book illustrates how it has evolved over time, surviving generations of humans, animals, spirits, monsters, technologies, and nightmares.

STRUCTURE

Nina’s portion of this book takes place in a near future. Oli lives in the same timeline but in an alternate world with a pseudosun. The two worlds collide about two-thirds of the way into the book, where Oli leaps through the pseudosun down to Earth. For the most part, Oli and Nina’s chapters alternate, but there’s a really interesting author choice on page 358, at the end of the book’s second act, where the antagonist, Paul, gets a chapter to detail his point of view.

Key Excerpts

“The St0ryte11er app had a suite of free tools, including sound effects, atmospheric music, narration overlays, screen splitters, and even voice modifiers. They were all intended to enhance the narrative aspect of uploaded videos. However, Nina rarely used the tools. At most, she’d deploy the ‘background noise scrubber’ to eliminate sirens. Once, when her father was watching basketball in the living room, he cheered so exuberantly at a three-pointer that his voice infiltrated Nina’s story about the alley raccoons. The interruption cracked her up, so she used the ‘isolate and enhance’ tool to amplify her father’s shout of ‘That’s a bull’s-eye!’ But otherwise, Nina preferred simplicity. All she needed was a camera, her voice, and a story.” – page 110

What does storytelling mean for the characters in this book? Why does Nina tell stories as Rosita did? Why does Oli read so much? What does the bookstore symbolize in this story?

“‘Over time…

‘She learned to survive without her mother’s voice in the world.’

During the story, Nina had started crying. Now, she swiped a hand across her cheek. ‘The end.’” – page 164

One of the throughlines in this book is the relationship between Nina and her absent mother, who is almost always off, sailing around the world, translating languages and supporting climate science. At one point, Nina mentions that her mother missed her birthday again. She asks her, “Is it worth it?” What do you think?

“Earth’s recent transformation was common knowledge. Sea level fluctuations. Increases in the average temperature. Ecological devastation. Explosions in some species (like mosquitoes, which I personally enjoy eating; that said, I respect that they have a scary side as disease spreaders and itchy-lump makers). The decimation of other species. But until Ami got sick, it was never personal. It didn’t affect me.” – page 325

What do you think Darcie Little Badger hopes to say about the environment with this book? How does she explore natural disasters? What do you make of the tornado the adventurers capture in a nesting doll?

Book Talk Excerpt:

“Blood welled from Oli’s body and spread across the rain-saturated ground, staining Nina’s jeans red. There was so much blood, so quickly. Had the bullet passed through his heart? Injuries like that couldn’t be healed, could they? Not without magic.

‘Grandma, help him!’ she begged. In response, her grandmother put her hand against the hole in his chest, applying pressure. The blood squished between her fingers and trickled down in rivulets along her wrinkled hands.

Somebody—who? Who would do such a terrible thing?—had shot her friend, and they could shoot more people. Nina shouldn’t be outside, in the open. None of them should. But she couldn’t let Oli die. This cottonmouth spirit, who’d fallen through the sun and swum through the waters of two worlds; who’d survived attacks by monsters; who’d trusted her with the life of his best friend.

‘What happened?’ her mother asked. She kept looking at the sky, at the blue spaces between the clouds, as if convinced that a meteorite had hit him. Something purposeless and utterly random. Nina had been through enough active shooter drills to recognize reality.

‘He was shot!’

With a hiss of breath, Nina’s mother knelt in front of her daughter, perhaps hoping that her poncho-armored body could absorb a bullet. ‘Run inside,’ she ordered. Half-obeying, Nina tried to lift Oli by the shoulders to drag him behind the porch.

‘Leave it!’ a man shouted. The women, now all huddled around Oli, scanned the area, searching for the shooter. Nina’s gaze paused at the line of oaks along a nearby ditch. ‘There,’ she said, lifting one of her blood-drenched hands to point. ‘Is that…?’

It was.” – page 352-353

What do you make of the hunter in this book? Who is it? What does it mean? How do you know?

My Thoughts and Reflections

★★★★★

In all honesty, if I hadn’t been challenging myself on a timeline, I likely wouldn’t have picked up or finished this book. However, I’m happy that I did, as I have no problem admitting that Darcie Little Badger is a genius story weaver. A Snake Falls to Earth is richly layered thematically, packed with compelling characters, and brilliantly written for young adults. I will definitely recommend this book to students in the future.

Topics/Ideas/Books/Authors I’m Curious About As A Result of Reading A Snake Falls to Earth

I found the depiction of technology in this book and Nina’s use of it really compelling. I’d like to read The Wild Robot and the Arc of a Scythe trilogies to get an idea of how technology is currently presented to young people.

I’ve heard students love Firekeeper’s Daughter. Apple (Skin to the Core) looks really compelling. Both center on indigenous identity. They’re also both less fantasy, so likely more up my alley.