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Overview
Once there was a boy, and that boy loved stars very much. So much so that he decided to catch one of his very own. But how? Waiting for them to grow tired from being up in the sky all night doesn't work. Climbing to the top of the tallest tree? No, not tall enough. The boy has a rocket ship . . . but it is made of paper and doesn't fly well at all. Finally, just when the boy is ready to give up, he learns that sometimes things aren't where, or what, we expect them to be.
Jeffers offers a simple, childlike tale of reaching for the stars, and emerging with a friend.
Synopsis
Once there was a boy, and that boy loved stars very much. So much so that he decided to catch one of his very own. But how? Waiting for them to grow tired from being up in the sky all night doesn't work. Climbing to the top of the tallest tree? No, not tall enough. The boy has a rocket ship . . . but it is made of paper and doesn't fly well at all. Finally, just when the boy is ready to give up, he learns that sometimes things aren't where, or what, we expect them to be.
First-time author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers offers a simple, childlike tale of reaching for the stars, and emerging with a friend.
Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz - Children's Literature
A boy in love with stars longs to have one for his friend. Setting out to catch one, he finds that no matter what he tries, he cannot reach it. When he notices, floating in the water, "the prettiest star he had ever seen," he tries to grasp it, but it comes apart in his fingers. On his way home along the shore, however, he finds a star washed up on the beach that he can take home as his own and is happy at last. Is it only a starfish? The illustrations for this whimsical tale leave that an open question. Indeed, the simplicity of design encourages readers to exercise their imaginations. The boy has a circle for a head and rectangle for a body with lines for legs. The other main objects, aside from stars, are trees, which are circles on sticks. Yet Jeffers's inventiveness makes these bare bones tell the emotional drama with a combination of humor and pathos. 2004, Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers Group, Ages 4 to 6.
Editorials
Children's Literature
A boy in love with stars longs to have one for his friend. Setting out to catch one, he finds that no matter what he tries, he cannot reach it. When he notices, floating in the water, "the prettiest star he had ever seen," he tries to grasp it, but it comes apart in his fingers. On his way home along the shore, however, he finds a star washed up on the beach that he can take home as his own and is happy at last. Is it only a starfish? The illustrations for this whimsical tale leave that an open question. Indeed, the simplicity of design encourages readers to exercise their imaginations. The boy has a circle for a head and rectangle for a body with lines for legs. The other main objects, aside from stars, are trees, which are circles on sticks. Yet Jeffers's inventiveness makes these bare bones tell the emotional drama with a combination of humor and pathos. 2004, Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers Group, Ages 4 to 6.—Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz