How to Catch a Star

"Once there was a boy and the boy loved stars very much..." And so begins the simple narrative here, as the boy tries everything he can think of, from climbing a tree to using a lasso, to catch a sparkling star. All of his efforts prove futile, until he finds what he is looking for in an unexpected form (as a starfish), and at an unexpected time...

Originally published in 2004, How to Catch a Star is the first of four picture-books about the adventures of this boy - subsequent titles include Lost and Found, The Way Back Home and Up and Down - and was author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers' debut. It's certainly a lovely debut, and although not my favorite Jeffers book, it does feature that gentle sense of heart to be found in all of his show more stories, and the colorful, stylized artwork I have come to expect. Recommended to anyone searching for children's stories about the longing for something just out of reach, as well as to all fellow Jeffers fans. show less

Raise your hand if you had a poster in your dorm at college with this famous Herman Hesse passage from Damien:

"And she told me about a youth who had fallen in love with a planet. He stood by the sea, stretched out his arms and prayed to the planet, dreamed of it, and directed all his thoughts to it. But he knew, or felt he knew, that a star cannot be embraced by a human being. He considered it his fate to love a heavenly body without any hope of fulfillment and out of this insight he constructed an entire philosophy of renunciation and silent, faithful suffering that would improve and purify him. Yet all his dreams reached the planet. Once he stood again on the high cliff at night by the sea and gazed at the planet and burned with love show more for it. And at the height of his longing he leaped into the emptiness toward the planet, but at the instant of leaping "it's impossible" flashed once more through his mind. There he lay on the shore, shattered. He has not understood how to love. If at the instant of leaping he had had the strength of faith in the fulfillment of his love he would have soared into the heights and been united with the star."

I’m betting Oliver Jeffers was one of those people. (And, yes, I was one). This first book by him as both author and illustrator reminds me a great deal of Hesse.

This book begins:

"One there was a boy
and the boy loved stars very much.
Every night the boy watched the stars from his window
and wished he had one of his very own.”

The boy tries various ways to catch a star, including climbing to the top of the tallest tree he could find. But still, he cannot reach it.

One night he sees a shooting star, and the next morning, on the beach, he sees a starfish sea shell, and is ecstatic to think that he caught a star of his very own.

Well, thank heavens! You wouldn’t want the boy to take the route of the character from the story recounted in Damien. This is a much better ending!

Jeffers is a whimsical and humorous illustrator, using watercolors and vague looking characters and landscapes so that, as he said in an interview, “people all over the world think that the boy is one of their friends and that the geography is where they’re from. And that allows people in and to fill in the details with their own personal details. So he’s a little bit of me, a little bit of everyone else who’s reading the story.”

Evaluation: This entertaining story is about the rewards of persistence, and maybe faith and ingenuity as well. In the ten years since the publication of this very popular book, there has also been a coloring book version, a star gazer kit, and even theatrical productions for kids based on the story. show less

This book has sweet spare illustrations done in beautiful and vibrant colors. Jeffers' use of watercolor gives the simple pictures texture and shading that make the illustrations stand out from the crowd. There are gorgeous dark blues and deep violets, people with cute stick legs, and lollypop trees with a square or two layered over the top. (My first graders loved the stick legs and squares in the trees.)

The Boy goes out looking for a star to be his friend, "they'd play hide-and-go-seek, take long walks together...". When Boy gets up at dawn to catch a star, he can't find any. He waits all day and "just before the sun was about to go away", a star pops out in the sky. He tried jumping up, climbing a tree, and a few other ideas, but the show more star was too far away. As he walks home he sees the star's reflection in the water. Not realizing what it was, he tried to pick it up, "but the star rippled through his fingers". But The Boy never stops trying and, in the end, finds something unexpected.

The text is simple, and while I wouldn't describe it as lyrical or poetic, it is peppered with lines like, "But in his heart the wish just wouldn't give up". I've liked Jeffers' books since seeing them for the first time last year, but thought they were a book best experienced as a reader or sharing with a child. I gave the book a try in June as part of an illustration unit with my first graders and they loved it! I really thought they would find the story to slow or the pictures to plain. I was happily proved wrong.

I love this book. It's not the best story I ever read, but coupled with the lovely pictures, it's a book that I enjoy returning to. I definitely recommend this book. show less

A little boy wants to have a star of his own. He tries many methods to get one, until he finds a fallen star (sea star). It becomes his great friend.

This is a fantasy children's book

AS you may be able to tell by now, I love Oliver Jeffers. Love Love Love. I feel like his little boys are part his childhood and part of mine. The fantasy of having your own magical friend is common, and the pragmatically fantastic ways he goes about getting it done is beautiful.

Like any of Jeffers' books I would (and do) read these in the classroom. His sense of dry fantastical play is appealing across interests and his simple (elegant) drawings are appealing to kids because they are soo relate-able.

This book is a great book to have in your classroom. It is about a young boy who loves stars so much that he must have one of his own. Throughout the book, it shows him thinking of all the possible ways he can get his star. For a young reader, this book is a great way to help them understand perseverance in an easy manner.

I really enjoyed the book “How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers. I like the author’s simple illustrations including those that the picked the boy imagining himself being friends with the star taking walks together and playing hide and seek. I thought the story was interesting and liked all the examples of the boys failed attempts to catch a star like attempting to lasso it with his father’s life preserver. I also thought it was clever that the author had the boy find a starfish that became his actual star at the end of the book. I think the big idea of this book is the length’s we will go to find friendship which the author expresses very well.

How do you catch a star? Jeffer's little boy tries everything from jumping to attempting to lasso the star. Nothing works and the boy becomes very sad and walks near the beach where he seems a reflection of a star in the water. Of course he can't grab that one either, but he does find a starfish nearby and is last seen reading a book to it. This book reminded me of others (i.e. Papa, please get the moon for me; Kitten's first full moon ) but it still felt like it's own story. My only problem is that the boy took the starfish away from the sea!!! There had to be some other "star" he could find?!?