Where to Hide a Star by Oliver Jeffers

Where to Hide a Star by Oliver Jeffers

Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books

Picture Book review by Joy Lawn (Joy in Books) at PaperbarkWords blog

“Once there was a boy … and together with his two friends … he would often play hide-and-seek.” (Where to Hide a Star)

Perfect for Christmas or all year round, Where to Hide a Star celebrates twenty years since we first met ‘the boy’ and ‘the star’ in Oliver Jeffers’s much-loved How to Catch a Star.

A star is a symbol of light and, since we’re thinking about Christmas, the nativity story features another bright star, one that illumined the way for the wise men to find the baby Jesus in a stable.

In Jeffers’s book the light of a star is also a ‘highlight’ but the story begins with the boy and his friends, the penguin and the star, playing hide-and-seek. The boy always does the countdown while the others hide. Everyone knows that the star is not very good at hiding, it even stands behind a chair that doesn’t conceal it at all. This illustration, and many others, provoke humour.

To further differentiate between the characters, the penguin has a regular, favourite hiding place that is fittingly under a jetty near the water. The boy and star endearingly hold hands as they search for the penguin. They enjoy the routine of their game. However, on this occasion the penguin has become stuck between some rocks. The boy places the star inside his rowboat, so his hands are free to release the penguin.

Children would feel concern as the boy and penguin make their way home, having forgotten the star in a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. The tension accelerates when the boy and penguin assume that the star has started another game of hide-and-seek, and they begin looking for it in all the usual places.

A dramatic double-page spread, portraying the wild ocean during a storm, shows (but doesn’t tell in words) that the boat with the star inside has been swept away. The two friends enlist the help of their other friend the Martian to go on a rescue mission.

The boat and star reach the North Pole and, echoing the opening words of the book, “Once there was a boy …”, now we read, “Once there was a girl …” The girl loves stars and has longed for a friend. After finding the star, she plays imaginative games with it until the boy and his companions arrive. But who should the star go with now it is friends with a boy and girl who live so far apart? This becomes a quandary for young readers to consider before turning the page. Neither boy nor girl knows what to do, and both hope to avoid causing unhappiness. The Martian solves this dilemma in a brilliant way. Transcendent.

There is much to enjoy and reflect on in this picture book. The title and cover open children’s imaginations as they wonder ‘where to hide a star’.  The pre-title page shows the penguin, with an amusingly ambiguous expression (which will encourage readers to interpret the scene) looking at the flattened, fallen star on the ground. All will entice children to ponder what they might encounter in this story.

The illustrations break into full-colour double-page spreads at dramatic moments.  Stylised orange trees become green and landscape colours change to create contextual contrast. Humour is often elicited through the penguin, who is invariably doing something funny in the background or off to the side.

Oliver Jeffers has triumphed again. Where to Hide a Star is a superlative picture book – one that is ultimately all about friendship and love. It crafts depths for its readers to discover and will delight both children and adults over multiple readings.

Star-like and shining indeed.

Where to Hide a Star at HarperCollins Children’s Books

Oliver Jeffers’s website