How to Catch Bigfoot

Gr 1-3–For their zillionth outing, the diverse “How to Catch” gang hits the woods for a camping trip and efforts to snare a wary Bigfoot. In the hamfisted verse fans have grown to love, or at least tolerate, the cryptid assumes narrative duties: “Uh-oh, this cannot be good./ They all look pretty freaked out./ S’mores or not, it’s time to run./ Of this I have no doubt.” As the kids contrive an increasingly elaborate series of traps, all of which fail in turn, the furry forager—always, except once, seen only from behind in the illustrations or as flashes of shaggy hands or feet—fills a big basket with woodsy provender for his family: “Gee whiz, this stuff is getting HEAVY,/ wish I could just do takeout!” But what makes his own offspring caper in delight at the close is the cooler full of yummy snacks and desserts that the kids leave behind.