Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub (Illustrated by: Kristin Sorra)
Reviewed by: Renny Fong
About the author:
Joan Holub illustrated her first published children’s book in 1992 and soon began illustrating full time. She began completing manuscripts and mailing them out to publishers in the early 1990s. In 1996, she sold her first two manuscripts — Boo Who? A Spooky Lift-the-Flap Book (Scholastic) and Pen Pals (Grosset & Dunlap).
Today, she writes full time and has written and/or illustrated over 130 children’s books. Creating books that entertain, inform, and interest children (and herself) is a fabulous job she truly loves.
About the illustrator:
Kristin Sorra and her husband started Atomic Paintbrush, a business designed to cater to the niche market of comic books, where they were one of the first studios to provide digital coloring to all the major comic publishers.
While running Atomic, Kristin focused heavily on children’s book illustration and creating characters and stories for animation. Soon enough, her work was published by companies like Simon & Schuster, Harcourt, Highlights, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Penguin Putnam and Scholastic (see more comprehensive, rather impressive list under ‘clients’ link). She has presented her animation ideas to production companies like Dreamworks, Film Roman and Nickelodeon and was a finalist for Fox Studios’ Pitch-O-Rama, a one-time event in search of the next Simpson’s.
Beyond books and animation, her work has also appeared in magazines, stationery and paper products, off-Broadway shows, websites, clothing hang tags and her mom’s birthday cards.
About the book:
The must-have book for Groundhog Day—and the rest of the year!
With pop-art illustrations, a tongue-in-cheek tone, and a riot of detail, kids learn all the important aspects of Groundhog Day. And where better to learn it than Groundhog Weather School!
Professor Groundhog opens a school so groundhogs can learn to accurately forecast the weather each February. Following along with the amusing cast of students, kids are drawn in by the thoroughly engaging tale while they learn fun facts about different animals (groundhogs in particular), seasons, weather, and predicting the weather. With funny asides and a comic-style approach to the illustrations, this informational story presents a fresh look at Groundhog Day through the eyes of the animals who live it each year.
My take on the book:
Last year, it was Groundhog’s Day, every night, for a couple of weeks, as my 3-year-old son requested Groundhog Weather School for his bedtime story of choice again and again and again. Luckily, I loved it, too! After returning the book to the library, I had to get our very own copy.
The story begins with Rabbit in bed, watching a TV weather fo
photo by jimbowen0306 www.flickr.com
*Picture book for kindergarten students through third graders
*Groundhog teacher as main character
*Rating: A perfect picture book to celebrate Groundhog’s Day or to supplement a weather unit in science!
Short, short summary: Rabbit (and a few other animals) write to Professor W. Groundhog about his weather forecast on Feb. 2. Professor Groundhog said spring was coming, and Rabbit was all ready. But he found snow. Rabbit suggested recruiting some more groundhogs to help Professor predict the seasons across North America on Groundhog’s Day. The professor puts an ad in the newspaper for some groundhog students at his Groundhog Weather School. Groundhogs from all over the country attend his school (and even one skunk). They learn that Groundhog + Shadow = Winter or Groundhog – Shadow = Spring. They also learn geHOGraphy, Famous Furry Hognosticators, nature’s weather predictors (like cows!), and the reason for the seasons. Once the groundhogs graduate, they set their alarms for February 2 (Groundhog’s Day), and they are off to hibernate. A few of the groundhogs have some troubles when it’s time to see their shadows, but the majority see them, so there’s six more weeks of winter. Rabbit is so happy, and he can’t wait to go sledding. He gets all bundled up and. . . well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Celebrate Groundhog’s Day with this book! Not only is it super cute, and kids will love the humor and Groundhog Weather School; but also it is full of facts about all sorts of things to do with this holiday. Read this book on Groundhog’s Day, and students can either draw a picture and write a fact they learned; or they can write a paragraph about it in their reading response journals; or they can create a pretend lesson for the Groundhog Weather School.
2. Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub can also be used with a weather unit and not just on February 2. In the middle of this book, there are several pages of facts about shadows, the four seasons, famous weathermen, and weather and nature. Kristin Sorra’s illustrations make learning these facts interesting and fun!
3. Professor W.Groundhog puts an ad in the paper and tells the animals that if they meet six criteria then they should attend Groundhog Weather School to prepare for Groundhog’s Day. The six criteria are the animals have to be: a mammal, a rodent, a herbivore, furry, live in a burrow, and hibernate in the winter. Several different animals such as a pig, skunk, and monkey see the ad and are disappointed because they do not fit all six criteria. One fun activity to do with students, especially if you are studying different animals in science, is to see which animals fit most of the characteristics and if any animals fit all six like groundhogs do.
Happy Groundhog’s Day!
Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub (Illustrated by: Kristin Sorra)