How to Catch the Easter Bunny
Adam Wallace
More essential reading from Adam Wallace
How to Catch a Leprechaun
by Adam Wallace
Children's Books
★★★★★5.0 (1)
A bouncy rhyming picture book where a cheeky leprechaun outwits kids' elaborate traps, perfect for kicking off a St. Patrick's Day trap-building tradition at home or school.
What It's About
How to Catch a Leprechaun follows a group of children who build ever more inventive contraptions to nab the leprechaun visiting on St. Patrick's Day. The leprechaun is quick, mischievous and very pleased with himself, slipping past each scheme with a wink. The story is told in brisk rhyming verse, and Andy Elkerton's busy, cartoonish illustrations pack every spread with gadgets, gold, green mischief and visual jokes that reward a second look.
The plot is slight: set a trap, watch it fail, try again. The real appeal is the energy and the invitation it extends. Kids see a trap that almost works, notice what went wrong, and start sketching their own. That makes it a favorite with teachers who pair it with simple engineering or design activities, and with parents who like a seasonal ritual of building a trap and leaving it out overnight.
As a read-aloud it runs only a few minutes, has a strong rhythm that makes it easy to perform, and keeps preschool and early-elementary listeners engaged. It is the first of Adam Wallace's popular How to Catch series, which later took on the Easter Bunny, Santa, a unicorn and many others, so if your child loves the format there is plenty more to follow.
Read this if you…
- want a lively St. Patrick's Day read-aloud for kids roughly ages 3 to 8
- like the idea of building leprechaun traps as a family or classroom tradition
- have a child who enjoys silly tricksters and busy, detailed pictures
Skip it if you…
- are looking for a picture book that teaches the history or culture of St. Patrick's Day or Ireland
- prefer quiet, lyrical stories with strong writing over high-energy, gimmicky fun
Key Ideas
- 1
Playful chase, not a lesson
The book's main goal is fun. The leprechaun is a lovable trickster, and each foiled trap becomes a small comic payoff. There is no heavy moral, which keeps the tone light and makes it easy to read on repeat during the March holiday season without children feeling lectured.
- 2
Trial, error and inventing again
Each failed trap quietly models the design process: try something, see why it didn't work, rethink. Children rarely notice they are absorbing this, but it gives teachers and parents an easy springboard into building contraptions from boxes, string and recyclables, and talking through what might work better.
- 3
Rhyme built for reading aloud
The verse moves quickly with a sing-song beat that makes the book easy for adults to perform and for kids to anticipate. Some rhymes are a bit forced, but the momentum carries the story and helps younger listeners stay with it through the whole chase.
- 4
Illustrations full of hidden detail
The pictures do much of the storytelling. Crowded, colorful spreads show the traps' moving parts and the leprechaun's escapes, giving kids things to point at and discover. Pre-readers can follow the action through the art alone, which makes it good for independent page-flipping too.
Limitations
This is a light, commercial seasonal book, and some adults find the verse uneven, with rhymes that stretch to fit the meter. The story is thin and repetitive by design, so it relies heavily on the illustrations and on the trap-building activity it inspires. It offers essentially nothing about Irish folklore beyond the stereotype of a gold-loving leprechaun, and it won't hold much interest outside March. Parents who dislike the franchise feel of the long How to Catch series may find it more product than literature.
Questions Readers Ask
- What age is How to Catch a Leprechaun best for?
- It works best for roughly ages 3 to 8. Preschoolers enjoy the rhythm and pictures as a read-aloud, while kindergarten through second graders get the most from the trap-building angle and can begin reading parts of it themselves. Older kids may find it too simple, though they might still enjoy designing traps.
- Is it good for teaching in a classroom?
- Yes, it is a popular March pick for early-elementary teachers. It pairs naturally with STEM or STEAM projects where students design and build their own leprechaun traps, then explain how they work. It is less useful if you want content about the holiday's origins, so pair it with a nonfiction title for that.
- How does it compare to the other How to Catch books?
- It was the first in the series and set the formula the rest follow: rhyming text, a sneaky magical character, and children's inventive traps. If your child likes this one, How to Catch the Easter Bunny or How to Catch a Unicorn offer the same experience for other seasons and interests.
- Published
- 2016
- ISBN
- 9781492632917
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Children's Books
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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