Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day provides an opportunity to talk about a few different topics with your kids: groundhogs, shadows, spring, weather forecasting, hibernation… I could go on!
Reading picture books aloud is one of my favorite ways to introduce, explain, and chat about new topics. Some of these titles are informative (thank you for your service Gail Gibbons) and some are just plain silly!
Either way, they’ll be a big hit with your kids!
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Groundhog Day Book List
Author and illustrator Gail Gibbons is the queen of non-fiction picture books. She brings educational topics to life with vivid illustrations, easy to understand language, and relevant facts.
In her book, Groundhog Day!, she explains the history behind Groundhog Day, how we celebrate it now, and even delves into facts about groundhogs.
If you skip all other Groundhog Day books, and only read this one, you’d come away knowing everything there is to know about groundhogs and Groundhog Day and would be totally ready for this strange, yet fun, holiday.
Groundhog’s Runaway Shadow – David Biedrzycki
Out of all of the Groundhog Day books we checked out this year, this is the one that my kindergartener is asking for over and over again.
It’s not actually even about Groundhog Day. It’s a fictional picture book about a groundhog whose shadow acts like a separate being, with ideas and dreams separate from Phil.
Phil is the strait-laced groundhog: a rule following homebody. Phil’s shadow is the adventurous and silly one. One day, Phil becomes fed up with his shadow’s antics and rudely sends him away. His shadow uses the opportunity to explore the world, like he always wanted to.
But while his shadow is away, Phil realizes that something is missing in his life – his shadow. He finds the courage to head off on an adventure to find him and reunite.
Groundhog’s Day Off – Robb Pearlman
Groundhog is sick of feeling like his only purpose is predicting the return of spring on February 2nd. He starts to feel like nobody cares about him, they only want to know the weather forecast.
So he decides to take the year off from predicting spring’s arrival and head to the spa instead. The townspeople host auditions for a new groundhog with the other animals, which have disastrous results.
Groundhog is watching the news when he learns how valued he actually is; that nobody could replace him. He rushes home and is met with a cheering audience that is brimming with questions all about Groundhog. He finally feels special and appreciated.
This one is filled with silly illustrations and plenty of humor – all the way up to the surprise ending with a cameo from the now fed up Easter Bunny.
Substitute Groundhog – Pat Miller
This one is a funny story about Groundhog becoming sick right before Groundhog Day and needing to take the year off – doctor’s orders. Before he can rest in bed, he needs to find someone to replace him on February 2nd, so he posts a Groundhog Application.
One by one, the animals come to try out for the job, but nobody is the right choice. Groundhog is ready to give up when Armadillo, who is here visiting from Texas, is chosen for the job.
When Armadillo announces there are six more weeks of winter, Groundhog decides to visit Texas for the next six weeks with Armadillo , where it already is spring and he can continue resting in the warm weather.
Groundhog Day – Michelle Aki Becker
This is like the super condensed version of Gail Gibbons’ Groundhog Day! book. It sticks right to the facts, with just about 1 sentence per page – which makes for a quick, concise read – perfect for younger kiddos in introducing this topic.
The other difference is that it uses real photographs versus illustrations, which I found pretty helpful too.
Go to Sleep, Groundhog! – Judy Cox
I had a hard time picking my favorite from this book list, but I think I’ve decided on this one.
This is a fictional picture book about Groundhog and how he is unable to fall asleep and properly hibernate.
Groundhog tosses and turns in his bed until he gets fed up and decides to go on a walk in hopes of getting sleepy. What he sees surprises him, for they are things he’s never seen before: Halloween trick or treaters, scarecrows and jack o’ lanterns!
The Halloween Witch tucks him back into his bed and reads him a story so he can drift off to sleep. But he still tosses and turns and keeps waking up and leaving his bed, only to see other fun seasonal displays and meet more holiday characters that help him back to bed over the next few months. Spoiler: even Santa makes an appearance!
Finally, he sleeps well only to be awoken all too soon for Groundhog Day – luckily, he sees his shadow and gets to tuck back in for 6 more weeks of sleep.
Groundhog’s Dilemma – Kristen Remenar
Groundhog is struggling to please all of his forest friends on Groundhog Day. Half of them want an early spring and half of them want winter to remain.
He is scared to let anyone down and feeling the pressure to make everyone happy. Especially when his friends start bribing him to predict the weather how they want.
Groundhog is feeling worried because he isn’t even in control of the weather and now he’s made promises to everyone; promises he can’t keep.
What is he going to do? Groundhog eventually decides that the only thing to do is tell the truth and be honest with his friends in hopes that they understand.
A good lesson in being honest, even if it’s hard to do and that pleasing everyone at the expense of your own comfort (while also lying) is never a good idea.
Groundhog Weather School – Joan Holub
The illustrations are so fun in this book! It’s got a lot going on – a mix between comic book style and lots of flyer/newspaper/diagram type illustrations. My 5.5 year old son loves books illustrated like this.
After Professor Groundhog makes the wrong weather prediction, he decides he needs some help in his spring forecast, so he decides to open the Groundhog Weather School.
The book blends entertaining illustrations and the right amount of silliness with a surprising amount of facts. You will come away with a lot of knowledge about groundhogs and Groundhog Day, without the reading experience feeling boring.
The Night Before Groundhog Day – Natasha Wing
Natasha Wing’s complete “The Night Before” series is an absolute must read! We read all of her holiday books each season and The Night Before Groundhog Day is no exception.
Each book in this series is a parody to the classic poem “The Night Before Christmas” with a spin on the words for each holiday (or even event – we love “The Night Before the Dentist” too!).
The illustrations and content in each book always feel reminiscent of my own childhood in the 90s – they just seems to totally capture the way holidays/events always were growing up.
Each book represents the essence of what each holiday is all about and between the catchy, entertaining rhymes and the illustrations – it explains holidays to children in an easy to understand and fun way.
How to Catch a Groundhog – Alice Walstead
I’ll be honest here… this book series is not my favorite. I know, I know, they are widely popular. They just aren’t my favorite, however, my kids are OBSESSED with this entire “How to Catch a…” series.
They beg for these books over and over anytime we pull one out for the season/holiday. I’ll admit that I finally had to hide ‘How to Catch a Snowman’ because we read it so many times this past month and I just could not do it anymore. (Anyone else guilty of this?)
I think my kids really love the concept of setting up traps and catching things – as they try to do this at home with our family dog (they can never be as quick as her though and are yet to be successful, haha).
I had to include it on this list since it is definitely a kid favorite!
The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun – Wendie Old
This one is packed full of information. It’s set up more like a chapter book – with long paragraphs and TONS of information. I’d compare this to the content that Gail Gibbons’ Groundhog Day! book has, but on massive steroids.
It’s one that I would not sit and read straight through, but would instead paraphrase and pick and choose what information to pull out and read aloud (at least for my kid’s ages – preschool and kindergarten).
If my kids were older, I’d use this as a supplement in a unit study.
Happy Groundhog Day!
I hope your kids will enjoy these fun Groundhog Day books just as much as we did! Let me know in the comments which ones were your favorites.
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