Groundhog Day is nearly here! Instead of one of those same-old groundhog stories, may I suggest something new?
Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox
Susan Blackaby
Sterling
ISBN: 978 1 4027 4336 8
Every year, I drea picking out books for this holiday. There are the books that explain it. The books about groundhogs who don’t want to get up, are sick, or stress about the pressure. and the cute little tellings of the day’s events. All perfectly serviceable and needed for understanding Feb. 2, yet so… same. Not this year!
Brownie Groundhog has come out in the middle of winter with no fanfare, noting on her way out her door that she sees her shadow, and that she wasn’t thrilled about it. Then what? Well, she is spied by a hungry little fox, who would quite like to eat her, thank you. Brownie’s not that easy, though, and she takes the fox on a merry little dance as explains that he can’t eat her until lunch time, and they may as well go skating to work up an appetite first, and then that they’ve missed lunch, and… well, she totally outfoxes the fox, to steal a line from William Steig. But this poor little fox isn’t mean, he’s even a little pitiful, and she softens at the end enough to share her snack with him, and promise to do the same again the next day.
This book is clever, and very, very cute. From little turns of phrase that are just the right side of the adorable/treacly line to the friendship that develops between the two to the lovely, retro-feeling illustrations, this one is a new favourite I’m planning to buy for myself.