Title: How to Catch a Star
Author: Oliver Jeffers
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Age Group: 1-8
Synopsis: A boy, who loves stars so very much, decides to try to catch one of his very own.
The Low Down: I’m not sure why but I always feel rushed in some book stores. Some you don’t mind strolling until kingdom come and others…well, I feel like I need to find what I need and go. GO NOW! Maybe it’s the lighting. I don’t know. That’s how I ended up purchasing How to Catch a Star. It was an add on for a buy one get one sale. I picked up a book about owls, that turned out to be a dud, and then grabbed How to Catch a Star. I opened to the page that read how the little boy couldn’t take his spaceship to get the star because it’d run out of petrol, chuckled, and headed toward check out.
Bug hated the owl story. He loves owls with a passion that is normally reserved for the swings and ice cream but that story just didn’t cut it. Anyway, we finally read How to Catch a Star at home, during our pre-nap reading session. And I was hooked. I read it to my mom over the phone. I took it with me to play dates. I know not everyone gets as excited as I do about a good book and I appreciate those in my life that graciously tolerate my book rages.
How to Catch a Star is worth a book rage. The illustrations are so sweet. The story is adorable, clever, and funny. And, best of all, Bug will go pick it out and bring it to me to read. He loves the boy and the star. He has since become enamored with stars. We’ve placed stars on his ceiling and done whole play dates focused around stars (see here). He draws them constantly (or tells me to draw them and then scribbles next to mine). If you are looking for an engaging story you can’t get much better.
For a picture book it’s got an amazing plot. I know, there are only 28 pages. How in the world can there be a plot twist? I wasn’t sure how Oliver Jeffers was going to end it, until the second to last page. It was so refreshing. The plots of kids stories are usually so predictable that you can figure out, in pretty fine detail, how the story will progress and end. How to Catch a Star was different and wonderfully so. As a parent who reads quite a few books daily, it’s nice to have one that I’m excited for, every time Bug picks it out.
Story Tips:
- We read it with a star shaped post it note. Bug holds it and puts it with the other stars. I’m not sure how this started but he loves it. It makes the whole story experience that much better.
I need more!
Oliver Jeffers has quite a few books that he’s either written or illustrated. For further investigation, check out his website at: http://www.oliverjeffers.com/
Add to my library:
UK Amazon:How to Catch a Star
US Amazon:How to Catch a Star
