Book Review Thursday ~ Substitute Groundhog

So, I have put off the whole book review thing for too long!  Each Thursday I will feature a book review just for you!  Sometimes I will even have activities and freebies for you.  But all times I will have a true book review for you, so you can make good choices about new and old books.

Without further adieu, here is my first book review!  For this first one, I am linking up with Tammy at 1...2...3... Teach with Me for her Book of the Month Linky.

Yesterday after testing I went into the first grade classroom and offered to read to the students for their unit time.  I had been sitting in my office with various children while they took tests on the computer for two weeks.  I really needed to do something productive!  The teacher, one of my best friends at the school, handed me a book I have never read ~ Substitute Groundhog by Pat Miller, and I took off with it!

The book features Groundhog who gets sick just before Groundhog Day and can't perform his duty of checking for his shadow.  He notices that other animals have Help Wanted signs around the forest, so he decides to do the same.  He then interviews several animals by seeing if they can do the job.  When many of the animals can't do it for various reasons ~ the mole can't see, the eagle won't go down the hole, etc., he finds an unexpected animal to help him out and do the job.

I really enjoyed talking as the animals would have talked in the book.  It always makes the story more intriguing, and this book lends itself well to it.   The students laughed, and my friend really enjoyed listening to the story herself.

As a teacher, I would use this book as a springboard for teaching about animals' adaptations and how they are suitable for their environments.  In older grades, the students could research one of the animals and create a "report" of some sort on it.  They could then teach the class about it.

For the first graders I had, I would talk about the different animals in their actual habitats and with their adaptations for them.  Using real pictures would make it more "real" for them as well.  Students would then draw a picture of one of the animals in their habitat and tell why they are best suited for it with their adaptations.

All in all, this book was fun to read and had a lot more to it than just a fun Groundhog Day book.  I would actually be willing to read this book any time of the year!  If you haven't read it, get your copy today and check it out!

If you have any good ideas for books for a book review, please leave a comment below or email me at readerstars@gmail.com.   They can be picture books, chapter books, or even professional books!  I love reading new books and rereading old ones too!

Don't forget to head over to Tammy's blog to see what everyone else is reading! 

Until next time!