How to Catch a Star

  Once 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.

  He dreamed of how this star

  would be his friend.

  They would play hide-and-go-seek

  and take long walks together.

  The boy decided he would try to catch one.

  He thought that getting up early

  in the morning would be best,

  because then the star would be tired

  from being up in the sky all night.

  The next day he set out at sunrise.

  But he could not see a star anywhere.

  So he sat down and waited for one to appear.

  He waited . . .

  and he waited . . .

  and ate lunch . . .

  . . . and waited.

  And after

  dinner

  he waited some more.

  Finally, just before

  the sun was about

  to go away, he saw a star.

  The boy tried

  to jump up and grab it.

  But he could not

  jump high enough.

  So, very carefully,

  he climbed to the top

  of the tallest

  tree he could find.

  But the star was still way out of reach.

  He thought he might

  lasso the star with

  the life preserver

  from his

  father’s

  boat.

  But it was much too heavy

  for him to carry.

  If only he could fly up in a spaceship and

  just grab the star . . . but the only

  spaceship he owned was made of paper,

  and it didn’t fly well at all.

  Perhaps he could get a seagull to help

  him fly up into the sky to reach his star?

  But the only seagull he could find

  didn’t want to help.

  The boy worried he would

  never catch a star.

  Just then he noticed something floating in the water.

  It was the prettiest star he had ever seen!

  Just a baby star. It must have fallen from the sky.

  He tried to fish it out with his hands.

  But when the boy reached out to touch the

  star, it just rippled through his fingers.

  Now the boy was sad. But in his heart,

  the wish just wouldn’t give up.

  Slowly, he began walking home.

  And that’s when he saw it . . .

  washed up on the bright golden sand.

  The boy had caught a star!

  A star of his very own.

  For Marie and Paul

  Copyright © 2004 by Oliver Jeffers.

  All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publishers.

  First American Edition published in 2004 by Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. Philomel Books, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.

  Published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., London.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means

  without the permission of the publishers is illegal and punishable by law.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage

  electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jeffers, Oliver.

  How to catch a star / Oliver Jeffers.—1st American ed. p. cm.

  Summary: Eager to have a star of his own, a boy devises imaginative ways of catching one.

  [1. Stars—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.J3643 Ho 2004 [E]—dc22 2003020465

  eISBN 978-0-698-14416-3

 

 

  Oliver Jeffers, How to Catch a Star

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