Snake-pit school - Susan Gates

On Mouse's first day at school she is terrified. It's big and noisy, and VERY scary. And it gets worse: a big girl smugly informs her that the mysterious blue door in the playground is the entrance to a snake-pit, Mouse is quaking in her new school shoes! Apparently, if you're naughty, even just a tiny bit, you get thrown into the snake-pit until you're really sorry. Mouse sits in despair at her desk, until a large book is plopped in front of her by Teacher. It's a book about snakes. Mouse forces herself to read it, and she actually starts to learn a thing or two about the dreaded snakes. Amongst other things, she learns that there are things you can wear to protect yourself against them ... The next day she arrives at school in her best snake-combat gear - snakes can't frighten her now! She even tries to get herself thrown in, just to see what happens, but she's just not a naturally naughty person. But then Teacher asks her to help her get some books from ... you've guessed it, the dreaded SNAKE-PIT. But when she gets inside, the hissing snakes turn out to be hissing pipes on the wall. There are no snakes at all! Almost disappointing really. Still, something has changed in Mouse, she doesn't feel half as scared as she used to. Maybe nothing is quite so frightening, once you know what to expect ...