"It was common knowledge that the woods behind my house in Milford were teeming with the most venomous of vipers. Monstrous Copperheads lurked behind every rock. Hideous Water Moccasins slithered through every creek. Big snakes. Poisonous snakes. All banded together in an insidious reptilian conspiracy, dedicated to the elimination of ten-year-old boys from the face of the earth."

Connecticut, 1952. School is out for the summer. In a time before computers, X-boxes, and iPods, the neighborhood kids have to get into trouble the old-fashioned way-using their imagination.

Ten-year-old Sonny Boy gets the bright idea for a practical joke involving his mother and a snake. He fears the loathsome reptiles more than anything in the world, but he figures it will be a great gag that will make him a hero to his buddies, Charlie and Pudgy-and to a certain girl. But three bullies harass the boys at every turn, and a battle of wits ensues. Nothing, however, diminishes Sonny Boy's infatuation for, or attempts to impress, the lovely Mary Lou.

During that hot summer, Sonny Boy befriends an octogenarian named Otto, whose wisdom facilitates his introduction to adolescence-and a final showdown with a snake.