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Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day!
It's almost Groundhog Day, and the town of Piccadilly is all a-buzz because Gretchen Groundhog will not Go Out. Her Great-Uncle Gus is too old to look fo rhis shadow anymore--now it's Gretchen's turn. But she's too shy.
32 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1998
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44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 9, 2017
Doing something new can sometimes be kind of scary, and for Gretchen, the new Groundhog Day groundhog, taking over the job from her great-uncle, the prospect of going out in front of lots of people and cameras, is frightening. This is a good story book broaching the subject of new experiences, and how it is ok to feel scared by being pushed out of our "comfort zone".
February 23, 2021
A classic tale of "Being Scared of the Thing But Doing The Thing Anyways", Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day! has a weak beginning but picks up midway. Gretchen is afraid of appearing in public to see her shadow and announces that she simply will not go out. Things look bleak until the town historian’s daughter brings Gretchen some old letters. Gretchen discovers that her ancestors, even her admired great uncle, were just as nervous as she is when they had to make their debut. Gretchen feels more confident as learning that she isn't alone in her anxiety, and the book ends with her stepping out into the cameras. I appreciate that the story ends without the reader finding out whether or not she sees her shadow, proving that the journey is really more important than the destination. The illustrations were a bit dreary, but hard to spice up a groundhog in winter I suppose. Similar to the plot, the illustrations liven up halfway through, especially when Gretchen looks through portraits of her ancestors. A fun read for elementary students on Groundhog Day.
February 6, 2012
Townspeople, an elegant groundhog, and a charming burrow all show up for Groundhog Day in this simple sweet story about old--and new--traditions. Poor Gretchen Groundhog is too shy to come out of her hole on February 2, but her great-uncle Gus, too old for the job, offers her plenty of encouragement.
February 5, 2017
A book that will help kids see that most people who seem brave, were really scared the first time they had to do something. A good book to use to talk about stage fright or fear of public speaking. I like the idea of writing down your thoughts the night before you have to do something that you are worried or excited about. Also, a great book to use for Groundhog Day.
February 4, 2013
Great story about Gretchen who is scared to take over her uncle's job of becoming the groundhog to see her shadow. Tell's about the history of groundhog's day and shows it's okay to be scared sometimes as long as you don't let the fear take over. Nice addition to a Groundhog Day's lesson.
February 6, 2018
Quite a bit of groundhog history included in this book about facing your fears and having feelings of being inadequate before performing an important job for the first time. Mama enjoyed this story a bit more than the preschooler.
May 31, 2021
A book about the little groundhog Gretchen who is scared to go outside because the whole world is staring at her to see if she sees her shadow or not. The people in town were either happy and celebrating or sad because there were going to be six more weeks of winter. That's a lot of stress for one little groundhog.
February 24, 2018
Cute story. I was conflicted about the historical groundhogs though. On one hand, it was cute to have groundhogs who matched different points in history, but it was a little cheesy. Especially with the first groundhog that came over on the Mayflower...since groundhogs are native to America...
March 2, 2025
Gretchen Groundhog was not wanting to go out on Groundhog Day, even though she had to take the place of great-uncle Gus. She had to tell people if she saw her shadow or not, but she was afraid. Someone comes to show her how important it was for her to go out. Nicely illustrated.
March 31, 2019
Blech. Hate the art. Was bored by the story. Just - no.
February 8, 2020
An elementary and up book about Gretchen Groundhog taking over the family business and going out for Groundhog's Day. Only Gretchen doesn't want to go out. Can anyone convince her. long but cute.
December 12, 2020
Bring brave when you try something new.
January 29, 2021
Fun story that explains Groundhog Day very well. Includes non-fiction information from the author at the beginning.
December 30, 2025
love it and love the groundhog 's name
February 8, 2023
The groundhog's ancestor reminded me of Wednesday Adams' ancestor with the same name from the new Netflix show.
February 24, 2015
I thought this book would be a fairly good addition to a library in my classroom. I think it's a cute book which involves important themes that I would want to encourage in my students. I wasn't extremely impressed by the illustrations, which is part of the reason I didn't give this book all 5 stars. Additionally, I didn't think the vocabulary would really stretch the vocabulary of a first or second grader.
However, I do think that there is definitely some validity that I would use in my classroom. First of all, it's discussing the "holiday" Groundhog's day. I would love to have some piece of literature that I can read on all big days like this, including earth day, presidents day, and other special days that are not as well known to our students. I think this would be a perfect book to read on this day to my students.
In the story, Gretchen, the main character, is nervous to be in the spotlight on groundhog's day. So, her grandfather explains how her doing this is just a part of history. He went through all the different groundhogs that had done this before her, such as General Grant Groundhog who fought in the civil war. As well as many other play-offs of historical figures. It might be a little bit of stretch, but it could be a fun activity to my students to research the parallels of these fake groundhogs and share with the class a little information about the actual person that was being referenced in this book!
Additionally, in this book, the main character is extremely nervous to go step out in front of the world. I would consider reading this book if a certain student had a lot of anxiety about participating in classroom activities and was extremely nervous to talk in front of the class. Like the grandfather groundhog explains, I would explain that we're all part of a bigger community and we all rely on each other to participate equally so we can all gain things from each one of our peers.
This book would be appropriate for young elementary students, however, I would prefer that the vocabulary would be a little more mature to stretch the minds of the listeners.
However, I do think that there is definitely some validity that I would use in my classroom. First of all, it's discussing the "holiday" Groundhog's day. I would love to have some piece of literature that I can read on all big days like this, including earth day, presidents day, and other special days that are not as well known to our students. I think this would be a perfect book to read on this day to my students.
In the story, Gretchen, the main character, is nervous to be in the spotlight on groundhog's day. So, her grandfather explains how her doing this is just a part of history. He went through all the different groundhogs that had done this before her, such as General Grant Groundhog who fought in the civil war. As well as many other play-offs of historical figures. It might be a little bit of stretch, but it could be a fun activity to my students to research the parallels of these fake groundhogs and share with the class a little information about the actual person that was being referenced in this book!
Additionally, in this book, the main character is extremely nervous to go step out in front of the world. I would consider reading this book if a certain student had a lot of anxiety about participating in classroom activities and was extremely nervous to talk in front of the class. Like the grandfather groundhog explains, I would explain that we're all part of a bigger community and we all rely on each other to participate equally so we can all gain things from each one of our peers.
This book would be appropriate for young elementary students, however, I would prefer that the vocabulary would be a little more mature to stretch the minds of the listeners.
February 13, 2017
This was a very cute book to learn to believe in yourself. Gretchen Groundhog knows this year is her year to become "THE" groundhog that everyone turns to to predict the weather. She is very shy and so scared and just simply says she can't do it. Regardless of what her community members say to her. BUT a little girl brings her the History of all the groundhogs before her and they all wrote that they too were scared their first time but they knew they HAD to predict the weather to help their fellow man (Even George Groundhog to tell the men at Valley Forge! Fun History facts written in this book for Gretchen but relates back to our own History.)
January 2, 2023
Lessons of this story: 1) It's okay to be anxious / afraid to do something new; 2) Lots of (famous, successful) people have felt that way; 3) stage fright or public performance fright is understandable and surmountable. This book cues children to empathize with the groundhog's point of view. (How many of us adults have ever done that?) The reader begins to root for Gretchen Groundhog as the story progresses.
February 17, 2011
Uh. OK. A little cheesy. I guess a good recommendation if you have a child with a confidence issue. Or you could strecth it to fear. But I think the story dragged a little. And extremely predictable. But a child probably wouldn't mind that in the least.
January 31, 2011
Gretchen is up every day chatting with people about how scared she is face the crowds on Groundhog Day. Sort of loses the concept of waking from a winter sleep...
February 2, 2012
this book is a great book and it is a good book you can read it with the hole class :)))))))))) :D
November 16, 2015
Alissa liked it that Gretchen finally decided to be brave enough to come out.
February 1, 2016
I had forgotten that groundhog day is based on the old holiday of Candlemas, which is on the first page of this book. Good theme about facing your fears, but just so-so on the rest of the book.
January 23, 2017
Fun story for a child who is nervous or worried or too shy to speak in front of an audience.
January 30, 2012
I liked that it had a little hisory lesson in it!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews