How to Catch a Loveosaurus

How to Catch a

by Alice Walstead, Andy Elkerton (Illustrator)

Can you catch the magical Loveosaurus? The Catch Club Kids are on the chase again, this time to trap a dinosaur that escaped from the museum and wants to spread love and kindness. Blending exciting traps and STEAM concepts with hilarity and chaos to encourage reading, learning, and imagination, this charming adventure will delight young readers, families, and educators alike―and maybe inspire spreading some kindness too! This funny children's picture book makes the perfect bedtime read-aloud and Valentine's Day gift for kids ages 4-10!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Dinosaurs, Holiday, Love, Kids, Juvenile

40 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[Lillian]

the illustrations were ok - but the text/story didn't really flow

[Harlow]

This one had me yelling!

[Erin]

Easily one of the worst picture book's I've ever read.

[Melanie Wood]

The most atrocious rhymes of the entire series. I don’t even know what I just read. I said words. But couldn’t focus on anything other than how nothing actually rhymed.

[Carla]

How to Catch a Loveosaurus is another good addition to the "How To Catch A...." series and this one has an added message. The How to Catch kids are at the local museum to check out the newest addition, A Loveosaurus. The problem is, they can't find him once they get inside. They catch glimpses of him as he makes his way around the museum leaving messages of encouragement, caring and love along the way. As they make their way through the museum, they enter various exhibits such as a planetarium, medeival castle, a sunken ship and the animals that live under the sea, an Egyptian exhibit and more. What a great book to read before a class trip to a museum.

The kids all enjoyed this one and we spent a lot of time going over the illustrations and finding different things. Of course this led to a lot of questions, which we will answer by going to various websites and viewing videos the next time they are here. As always the illustrations are the best part of the book, with their detail, colours and multi-cultural characters. Of all the books I have read them in this series, I found the rhyming in this one not up to snuff. The cadence was off and on one page the pattern completely changed. I don't know if this bothers the kids, but as a person trying to read aloud, it really bothered me.

[Tara Engel]

Nice message and illustrations but flow was off a bit.

[Kathabelle]

Rhyme scheme was lacking.

[Miranda]

4.5 stars

Isaac's visual interest 👀 (3 is top): untested 

How good it is as a book for me to read aloud while breastfeeding 🍼 (3 is top): 🍼🍼🍼

I'm a bit sad the kids never got to actually meet the Loveosaurus ...

[Alexa]

The message of the story is good but the writing is meh. The pictures are fantastic, though.

[Kate Carter]

I take this rating very seriously, and l genuinely never thought I would rate a book this low. Unfortunately, I think it’s very much deserved due to the lack of connection to the title, lack of any kind of coherent plot, and lack of any relation to actual dinosaurs or museums. I hope it was fun to illustrate, but I don’t plan to read this again, despite the message about spreading kindness. We’ll talk about kindness and read other books that convey the same message coherently.

[Julianna]

This one was a struggle to read aloud. We usually love the how to catch books.
The art was fine, but the story and rhyme was lacking.
Skip this one, y'all.

[Aimee]

This is a cute addition to the "How to Catch" series! I knew I was going to have to read it for our Valentines day story time!
The only reason I try to stray away from the "How to Catch" is because the books are SO small and when you have a crowd of 10-20 children, it's so hard for them to be able to see the book. I normally have kids walking up to me to see and point at items when the book is small. The only reason I didn't for this, was because I think this was one of the newer and nicer Valentines book around.

I love how this book starts with the kids going into the museum and how it goes through each of the sections of it. That is a good way for children to learn what are in museums and I love how they were looking for the Loveosaurus in each page and section of the museum!

[Elizabeth]

This is the first book I have read in the series. Maybe that's why it didn't make any sense to me. Why are they trying to catch a creature that wants to be free to do its thing? How, exactly, were kindness and joy being spread? Was it the random signs, placards, notes, and drawings instructing us to be kind without ever explaining what that means (other than to "always share what's in your big heart, be it smiles, kindness, or cheer)? How nice. No negative emotions allowed. No real actions beyond drawing more pictures.

Also, I thought the rhymes were awkward.

[Claire]

Perfect book for Valentine’s Day! This book is a fantastical book about catching a magical Loveosaurus that has escaped from the museum. This message of this book is spreading kindness and love to others! I think kids will love this silly book, and enjoy looking at the brightly colored and detailed pictures. The sing-song rhyme to this story will appeal to children, making this an engaging read. Perfect for a classroom on valentines day and talking to kids about spreading kindness.

[Kesha K.]

The How to Catch books are an absolute favorite of mine. They encompass so much joy. The artwork is always fantabulous and the story line is just a wonderful thrill for children. I found How to Catch a Loveosaurus in the same vein, except the story line didn't keep up with the rhyming pattern the way the other books have. It was still a fun picture book that the kids will enjoy.

[Pam]

Sweet story in this series. A rare creature is discovered and comes back with the explorers to speak at the museum. When the kids arrive, they discover she is missing. They search for her throughout the museum. Readers will also search and find her hiding on every page. Brightly colored illustrations capture the details in each room. Fun read with a strong message about kindness.

[Adriana]

The overall message is great: spread kindness and love. I had trouble keeping the reading cadence because the rhyming scheme changed throughout the pages. Sometimes I felt like I was just reading statements that weren’t cohesively telling a story. I liked that there were some explanations for the museum exhibits.

[Kylee]

This book is a good way to gets a good laugh out of the kids and also can been read during a science or history lesson around Valentine's Day. The kids go on a field trip to the history museum to see the new creature and they end up loving.

[Einon Brock]

Read this one at work for Storytime. It was fun. A little longer than I thought. It’s the very first one I’ve read in the “How to catch” series so I didn’t know that you don’t really catch the Loveosaurus at the end.

[Alexis Norman]

This book was cute & had a great message about kindness & love in it. The illustrations were great as well, I think a lot of kids would enjoy it

[Adrianne Rosal]

Spread kindness everywhere!!!!!

[Charlene]

Enjoyed this delightful read.

[Tercell]

The words didn’t flow

[Paula Greenfield]

This is a sweet book about a group of children trying to catch a Loveosaurus. I really enjoyed this book and it made me smile. I love the How to Catch a... series.

[Grace]

I finished

[Talia Messina]

The story feels underdeveloped

[Susan Companion]

The illustrations didn’t align well with the story, but my students enjoyed it.

[Susan ...relish every word!!!]

Another great “How to catch book!!!”

[Philip]

Illustrations: 2.5
Story: 1

We usually enjoy this series, but the author of this one in particular uses no meter, and rhyming books with no meter are more or less irredeemable imo.

[shay]

This book shares the different ways of spreading kindness and joy.