A Snake Falls to Earth

A Snake Falls to Earth is a young adult modern fantasy novel by Darcie Little Badger. The novel follows two protagonists: Oli, a cottonmouth shapeshifter from the Reflecting World, a place of magical monsters and spirits that is intimately tied to Earth, and Nina, a Lipan Apache girl living in Texas whose family has a nearly forgotten connection to the Reflecting World. A Snake Falls to Earth alternates between following Nina in third-person limited narration and Oli’s first-person narration of his adventures. Little Badger’s expertise in geological science weaves together with her experience as a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas to create a story that deals with themes like Climate Change and the Natural World, Indigenous connections to land and storytelling, and the power of Found Family in the wake of disaster.

Published in 2021, A Snake Falls to Earth is a work of Indigenous Futurism, an artistic movement that centers Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. In literature, Indigenous Futurism usually incorporates elements of fantasy and/or science fiction.

This guide uses the Levine Querido eBook version of A Snake Falls to Earth, formatted for Nook. Page numbers may differ slightly in other versions.