In honor of Groundhog Day, the book "Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day!" seems a very fitting one to focus on. This book was written by Abby Levine and illustrated by Nancy Cote.
"Gretchen Groundhog" is about a groundhog who has to take her great uncle's place and go outside and report the winter status to the town of Piccadilly on Groundhog Day. But if only it were that simple. Gretchen's shyness keeps her from wanting to go outside, which puts the entire town into an anxious frenzy.
The day before D-Day (or maybe it would be G-Day...) a little girl visits Gretchen and shows her newspaper clippings about Groundhog Days past. Her ancestral groundhogs were quoted in the newspapers, and all of them said they were frightened the first time they popped up out of the ground.
A great aspect to take away from this book is how Gretchen Groundhog gets over her fears. In order to do that, she had to discover that the groundhogs before her had been just as frightened about going out on Groundhog Day as she was.
See, fear doesn't always make sense. It can be an inhibitor and keep people (or in this case, a shy groundhog) from doing things they need to be doing. But just as misery loves company, fear hates it. As soon as Gretchen realized she wasn't the only groundhog who was shy about going up during Groundhog Day, her fears diminished and she was able to conquer them.
Being able to relate to others' was ultimately what made Gretchen Groundhog change her mind about going outside. Once the little girl showed Gretchen the quotes of other groundhogs before her, she was able to relate to the groundhogs and understand that it was her duty to go up and predict the weather for the next six weeks.
That's all for now, dear readers. Keep reading!
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