Phyllis in front of an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter plane
As avid readers of Punxsutawney Phyllis by Susanna Leonard Hill recall, Phyllis predicted an early spring. Bored from all that hibernation, Phyllis decided to take a little trip this year in anticipation of April Fool’s Day, the subject of her newest book.
I am flattered to say that our family was selected as the first stop on Punxsutawney Phyllis’s World Tour to promote April Fool, Phyllis! We are big fans of her original Groundhog Day story, and her April Fool follow-up continued to delight.
During her less-than-24-hour stop in Southern California, Phyllis received multiple readings. Cooper and Finley read the book for bedtime Thursday night. On Friday, Ms. Dina’s class at Palmdale United Methodist Preschool read the story. The class also helped Phyllis find her way to the sugarhouse using the maze from Susanna Leonard Hill’s site. We also shared the book with some of other friends in the area.
We made sure to snap a few photos of Phyllis alongside some of our more recognizable landmarks: Joshua trees and super fast airplanes. (Important note: Our area is the birthplace of the Space Shuttle and the spot where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time. Planes that have flown higher, faster and further are all developed, built and tested here.) Phyllis really enjoyed the trip to the Joe Davies Heritage Air Park where she saw all kind of stealthy aircraft including the SR-71 Blackbird, U-S Dragon Lady, and F-117 Nighthawk. Rumor has it she might have taken the Nighthawk for a spin.
Phyllis loved the Joshua trees.
And now, for a review of the book (drum roll, please!):
Themes/topics: April Fools Day, nature, weather, groundhogs
Opening and synopsis: ”Phyllis knew everything about the weather. After all, she was Punxsutawney Phyllis, Weather Prophet Extraordinaire! So, when she woke up on April first, the day of the Spring Treasure Hunt, it took only one whiff of the morning air to tell her something wasn’t right.”
All the signs point to a blustery blizzard for April Fools Day. No one believes Phyllis’s prediction that a storm is on its way. When the snow hits during the annual Spring Treasure Hunt, will Phyllis be able to save her cousins?
Why I like this book: Honestly, there aren’t that many April Fools Day books on the market, and with small children at home, I like to celebrate each new holiday and season with a themed book. Beyond its theme, there are several elements to recommend this book. First, its discussion of weather and natural cycles can inspire lessons about how to predict weather, signs of spring and winter and the like. Second, children actually participate in the Spring Treasure Hunt along with Phyllis and her cousins. My three and five-year-old love puzzles and mysteries, and they enjoyed shouting out their guesses to each new clue. Finally, Hill includes a historical note in the back of the book detailing the origins of April Fools Day. As with the best children’s books, I learned something new. I had no idea that April 1st originally was considered New Year’s Day under the Julian calendar. When the Gregorian calendar took root beginning in 1582, New Year’s Day became January 1st. Those who continued to celebrate April 1st as the first day of the new year were considered the original fools.
Resources: Hill includes classroom guides for kindergarten, first and second grade on her Web site. This guides align with many state standards for several subjects. Just for fun, Hill also has a Phyllis paper doll dress up page and a maze worksheet.
And now, we must say “bon voyage” to Phyllis and send her on her way. Next stop….Texas!
Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. She’s the author of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, 2020), A TRUE WONDER: The Comic Book Her Who Changed Everything, illustrated by Katy Wu (Clarion, 2021); THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars are Made of, illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, 2023), THIS IS HOW YOU KNOW, illustrated by Cornelia Li (Little, Brown, 2024) and THE LIGHT OF RESISTANCE, illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Roaring Brook, 2023) along with 25 other nonfiction books for kids. She's a geek, LEGO lover, and sock enthusiast. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter/Instagram @KirstenWLarson.
View all posts by Kirsten W. Larson
33 thoughts on “April Fool, Phyllis!”
Thank you SO MUCH for hosting Phyllis, Kirsten, and showing her such an amazing time! She will not soon forget flying that stealth plane! and you can be sure Phil Junior and Pete are going to be hearing all about it… multiple times! 🙂 Thank you also for such a lovely review of the book. I’m so glad you and your boys enjoyed it! Texas, here we come 🙂
We were truly honored to host Phyllis and show her the local sites. She was a wonderful houseguest. No one would have thought she normally sleeps in a burrow.
This whole World Tour is so exciting to follow, and you certainly showed Phyllis a great time while she was with you! Will she ever be able to settle for ordinary life after all this? 😉
This is such fun! I’m really getting into this World Tour idea and can’t wait to see what Phyllis gets up to next. I believe she’s headed to Penny and Natalie in Texas, so for sure they’ve got something big cooked up for her. She will be spoiled, indeed.
Wonderful post, Kirsten – and now I know what a Joshua tree is!
I am so enjoying following Phyllis’ tour! Kirsten you did so much with Phyllis in under 24 hours!! You have truly set the bar high! Great post and love the photos!
This is a very fun idea. Phyllis must be exhausted from her whirlwind tour of SoCal. I wish her a BON VOYAGE to her next stop. Now I’m really looking forward to April Fools Day which is called Poisson d’Avril here in France.
Luckily, Phyllis woke up from hibernation pretty recently, and after you have slept for a couple months straight you have lots of energy 🙂 Phyllis cannot WAIT to celebrate Poisson D’Avril in the hog!
I’ve been to Palmdale. I wonder what else Phyllis and I will have in common. Looks like you had fun hosting her. Thanks for sharing the adventure with us.
This World Tour is great! See I capitalized it ,too! I love going on tour with Phyllis as she travels and takes me places I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to go to. Thanks Kristen for hosting her.
You have won the Kreatif and Sunshine awards. Please go to
I’m finally catching up on Phylis’s adventures and Wow! You guys showed her a great time in such a short visit. The airplanes are so cool, my husband would love to visit them. He may be a bit jealous of Phyllis.
Thanks for sharing your review and the photo of your kids with Phyllis. I like to celebrate each holiday with my kids as well, and there isn’t much out there about April Fool’s Day, so this is a refreshing book with something to learn for kids and adults alike. 🙂
Kirsten W. Larson 
Thank you SO MUCH for hosting Phyllis, Kirsten, and showing her such an amazing time! She will not soon forget flying that stealth plane! and you can be sure Phil Junior and Pete are going to be hearing all about it… multiple times! 🙂 Thank you also for such a lovely review of the book. I’m so glad you and your boys enjoyed it! Texas, here we come 🙂
We were truly honored to host Phyllis and show her the local sites. She was a wonderful houseguest. No one would have thought she normally sleeps in a burrow.
🙂
This whole World Tour is so exciting to follow, and you certainly showed Phyllis a great time while she was with you! Will she ever be able to settle for ordinary life after all this? 😉
I don’t know…with her going on an international expedition, I’m sure she’s going to some pretty interesting places.
This is such fun! I’m really getting into this World Tour idea and can’t wait to see what Phyllis gets up to next. I believe she’s headed to Penny and Natalie in Texas, so for sure they’ve got something big cooked up for her. She will be spoiled, indeed.
Wonderful post, Kirsten – and now I know what a Joshua tree is!
Renee, perhaps you should keep an eye on your mailbox too 🙂
Ooooh, I can’t wait to see what she does in France!
I am so enjoying following Phyllis’ tour! Kirsten you did so much with Phyllis in under 24 hours!! You have truly set the bar high! Great post and love the photos!
We had fun, though I would have loved to take her to Los Angeles over the weekend. However, I felt pressure to get her on her way to Texas. Next time!
This is a very fun idea. Phyllis must be exhausted from her whirlwind tour of SoCal. I wish her a BON VOYAGE to her next stop. Now I’m really looking forward to April Fools Day which is called Poisson d’Avril here in France.
Good job, Kirsten & Susanna!
I think she’s headed to France eventually, so she should experience Poisson d’Avril in person.
Luckily, Phyllis woke up from hibernation pretty recently, and after you have slept for a couple months straight you have lots of energy 🙂 Phyllis cannot WAIT to celebrate Poisson D’Avril in the hog!
Cool. I need to read this book.
Feminist Phyllis is lots of fun! You’ll enjoy it.
I’ve been to Palmdale. I wonder what else Phyllis and I will have in common. Looks like you had fun hosting her. Thanks for sharing the adventure with us.
I’m sure we’ll all learn we had more in common with Phyllis than we thought. I can’t wait to see what she does on the rest of the tour.
Well, for starters, you are both girls – although she’s hairier than you 🙂
This is so great! Phyllis AND a Stealth Fighter plane! WAHOO!!!
It really doesn’t get much better than that, does it Erik? 🙂
Phyllis was very busy in southern California! How excited were your boys?? I’ll bet they loved every minute of it.
Oh, they are still talking about Phyllis. Fortunately, we also got out paws on a copy of the book we could keep.
Very fun to see Phyllis in CA and learning about you and your family as well, Kirsten!
And to top it all off, the boys got their own copy of “April Fool, Phyllis!” today so they can read it over and over and over and over again.
Lovely start to her trip, looking forward to hearing more…. lol.
Thank you ALL for your enthusiasm! 🙂
This World Tour is great! See I capitalized it ,too! I love going on tour with Phyllis as she travels and takes me places I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to go to. Thanks Kristen for hosting her.
You have won the Kreatif and Sunshine awards. Please go to
http://clarbojahn.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/won-the-kreatif-and-sunshine-awards/
to pick them up and see the rules.
Congrats, Clar
Thanks Clar. I’m hopping on over to check it out.
I’m finally catching up on Phylis’s adventures and Wow! You guys showed her a great time in such a short visit. The airplanes are so cool, my husband would love to visit them. He may be a bit jealous of Phyllis.
We’re happy to show anyone around our area! My boys are growing up with airplanes flying overhead ALL the time.
Thanks for sharing your review and the photo of your kids with Phyllis. I like to celebrate each holiday with my kids as well, and there isn’t much out there about April Fool’s Day, so this is a refreshing book with something to learn for kids and adults alike. 🙂
Isn’t it fun to be part of a “world tour?” I’ll be mentioning the book again tomorrow on a pre April Fool’s post.