How to catch a star

Jeffers, O. (2004). How to catch a star. Great Britain: HarperCollins.

ISBN #978-0-00-715034-2

The first time I read How to Catch a Star I fell in love with it right away. This book is about a little boy who loved stars very much. One day he decided to catch a star to be his very own so that he can play with it everyday. He first waited all morning for the star to grow tired, but he didn’t even see one star. He waited and waited and finally a star appeared. The little boy was trying to find ways to catch the star. He then climbed the tallest tree to reach up to the sky, but still could not reach it. The boy thought of using his rocket ship, but there wasn’t any petrol inside. He constantly tries different strategies to catch this star, until he noticed a baby star in the water and eventually when he waited and waited for the star, he was finally able to catch it.

This book is good for children ages three to five year olds because it gives them of sense of imagination, a thought of wonder of how they could catch a star. It also gives a bit of excitement for children because they would question if the little boy can actually catch the star or not by the end of the book. This story teaches children about patience and if you keep trying to reach for something you genuinely love, you will eventually get it.  

The illustration of How to Catch a Star is beautiful. The colors blend in so well together and the drawings of this story help you use your imagination. The colours of this story aren’t too bright, they are very simple and warm. The author uses lollypop trees and “cute” little stick legs for the characters in the book. The images in the story bring a very friendly atmosphere.

On the day I read this book to the children, I would put up bright stars on the ceiling right above the carpet. I would probably make a circle or a zigzag line out of the stars and each child could be sitting under a star of their own. The children may or may not notice the stars on the ceiling but eventually I’m sure all the children will recognize the stars after I’m done reading the book to them.

In the beginning of How to Catch a Star, when the little boy is waiting for a star, on that page I would stop and wonder if he is able to find a star in the sky. I would also wonder if the little boy will catch the star or how he will catch the star. I would chunk this book to encourage children to wonder. I would stop reading on the page when the little boy finds the fallen star in the water. I can let the children wonder what is going to happen next or I would wonder how the star got there. I would read the first half before lunch and then read the rest of it after lunch.

Four ways of presenting:

1.     I will be using the felt board. I will take the pictures from the book and make the different scenes out of the felt. Not only will I use felt, I will also use fabric paint to give more of an effect on the felt. For my felt story I will need lollypop trees, stars, a window, the little boy, an alarm clock, food, life belt, rocket ship, seagull and water. I will find these pictures on the internet or scan the pictures from my book and print it onto a T-shirt transfer paper, iron it onto felt and then cut it.

2.     I will use a large cookie tin or a bucket/box for my story. I will find the pictures from my book online and print them on a magnetic sheet and cut out the shapes out. I will be using similar pictures as my felt story.

3.     I will be using a clothing line. I will print out the pictures from the book and laminate it. I will need a string, and I will color the string according to the time of the day. I will need clothing pins to hang the different scenes from the story.

4.     I would like to make a mini TV scroll. I will need a cereal box, connected construction paper that makes the scroll. I will need to print off pictures from the internet, and if it’s possible I would like to laminate the paper so when children play with the TV scroll it won’t tear apart.

Three ways of extensions:

1.     After reading “How to Catch a Star” I would have an art class with them. I would cut out the shape of the star from the book, and put out all different kinds of art supplies. The children can design their star anyway they would like. I then would use a string and hang it from the ceiling.

2.     I can ask the children to draw how they would catch a star from the sky. I would supply them with different types of drawing/painting utensils. This allows the children to use their imagination and to show it on paper. Once they are finished I would put the pictures on the walls or I can put all the pictures together and make our own class book of how we would catch a star.

3.      I would need a water table, a thick stick with a string attached to the end of it, and at the end of the string there would be a magnet. Now, I will have plastic stars glued to magnets in the water table and then children can see how many stars they can catch. This will be a fun little activity we can do after we have read the book.