January 23, 2008
Groundhog Day is only two weeks away. It's my husband's favorite holiday. "No presents to buy, no cards to send, no decorations to hang, no special foods to prepare," he says. Actually, we both like Groundhog Day because it means we're in the home stretch to spring.
I wrote my picture book "Go to Sleep, Groundhog!" while teaching Kindergarten. Every year at the end of January, I'd have my class predict whether the groundhog would see his shadow or not. Each child wrote their name on a paper sun or cloud and stuck it in the appropriate column on a chart. Then we used the chart for all sorts of math activities--comparisons, simple arithmetic problems--things like that. It was great fun, and I wanted a story to go with it. At that time, there weren't many groundhog books. Now however there are so many choices! Groundhog Day is hip!
I now have a page up on www.goodreads.com a networking site for people who love books. You can see what I'm reading and my reviews, and comment or add your own page. It looks like a fun site for bibliophiles.
Best,
Judy
