A Garden for a Groundhog

A groundhog lives on the O'Leary farm property. While Mrs. O'Leary knits and cooks, Mr. O'Leary spends the winter deciding what to plant in the garden when Spring comes. The O'Learys watch the groundhog come out of his burrow in February, and he sees his shadow, which means that Winter will last a lot longer. When Spring eventually arrives, the O'Learys plant their garden and put in a side row of zucchini squash specifically for the groundhog, so that he will leave the rest of the vegetables for the humans. Or will he? Groundhog Day is just a tangent for this quaint story, which is more about life on a small farm. (And even though the owners are O'Learys, they thankfully own no cow.) The focus is on traditional roles and what each person or animal is naturally supposed to do. The text could thereby generate some discussion with young folks about those roles. The accompanying illustrations are clear and concise, and the farm and its residents are depicted in a whimsical manner.

This is one of my VERY FAVORITE children's books. I love the story and colorful illustrations. My husband and I could be fitting examples of Mr. & Mrs. O'Leary, the couple in this story. It is a wonderful story to explicit the seasons to young children. I read it each year to 1st graders. The groundhog is such a adorable and cunning character...Ms. Balian does a sensational job with every book she writes..I only wish there were more of her books!

I am a fan of Ms. Balian's books. This book is especially good for the fact that it gives a story that can be used in preschools and primary grades to teach about ground hog day, but also the telling of the seasons. I love the facial features of the ground hog. Worth reading again and again.