GENRE: Humor, STEM, Informational Fiction
WORDS: 560 (785 with sidebars)
Query:
Dear PBParty Judges, Editors and Agents:
So, you wanna be a marmot? Easy! Step 1: Dig a gigantic underground mansion. Wait… you have claws, right?
I am delighted to share my humorous informational fiction picture book HOW TO BE A MARMOT (IN FIVE EASY STEPS). Perfect for celebrating Groundhog Day at home or in the classroom, this book blends silliness with STEM learning about animal behaviors, habitats, and adaptations.
It reads as a how-to guide from an encouraging Olympic marmot narrator, who discovers the human reader may have difficulty following their “easy” five-step program. Optional short sidebars include the science behind unique marmot behaviors and fun facts. Did you know some marmots greet each other by booping noses?
HOW TO BE A MARMOT is complete at 560 words and also includes 225 words of optional sidebars. It combines the step-by-step structure and second-person narrative of HOW TO HATCH by Sara Holly Ackerman with the quirky humor of FLAMINGOS ARE PRETTY FUNKY by Abi Cushman.
I’m a technical writer, nature lover, and mom living in Seattle, Washington. My stories have earned honorable mentions from contests including Valentiny, #50PreciousWords, and Kidlit Chuckle Challenge. I’m a 2026-2027 Seattle Public Library Writers’ Room Resident and an active member of SCBWI and 12×12.
Thank you for your consideration! I’d be happy to share additional completed picture book manuscripts.
Excerpt:
So, you wanna be a marmot… I get it, we’re cute. We’re cuddly. We’re gigantic, ground-dwelling rodents. And we’re famous, too! Groundhog Day? Marmot. “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck”? Marmot. Chuck’s my cousin actually – great guy.
Just follow my five easy steps, and you’ll go from a rodent recruit to a five-star marmot in no time flat – I GUARANTEE it!
Step 1: Dig a gigantic underground mansion.
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
I’m a third generation Washingtonian and discovered that Olympic marmots are Washington’s only endemic mammal. Intrigued, I traveled to Olympic National Park and proceeded to walk many trails and wait many hours in the hopes of seeing a marmot. I was VERY close to giving up… until a park ranger revealed that an active burrow was, believe it or not, behind the porta-potties right next to the visitors center!
I caught sight of one in my binoculars, and immediately became obligated to tell their story.
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