- Fantasy
- Oliver Jeffers collection
- Ages 3–7
The Boy Series
Part of the collectionOliver Jeffers→Best for 3–7s; Lost and Found is the canonical entry point, the rest extend the small unnamed boy's quiet adventures.
- Books5 / 5
- Arcs1
- Span2004–2024
- StatusOngoing
The series
At a glance.
Five picture books featuring the same small unnamed boy: How to Catch a Star (2004), Lost and Found (2005), The Way Back Home (2007), Up and Down (2011) and Where to Hide a Star (2024). Lost and Found, about the boy returning a lost penguin to the South Pole, is the breakthrough, BAFTA-winning animated, and the entry point most families know. The books share a melancholy-comic register, a clear-eyed boy protagonist and a recurring small cast (boy, penguin, sometimes a martian).
Best for 3–7s; Lost and Found is the canonical entry point, the rest extend the small unnamed boy's quiet adventures.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Warm
- Gentle
- Heartwarming
- Whimsical
How to Catch a Star (first) or Lost and Found (most famous) are both good starting points; the books are essentially standalone.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcLow sensitivity
The boy and the penguin
Five standalones with the same boy protagonist and a small recurring cast.
Each book is self-contained but the recurring boy, penguin and quiet emotional register make them feel like chapters of one larger world. Lost and Found is the most famous and most-given; How to Catch a Star is the gentlest.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 3–7
- Read aloud · 3–7
- Independent · 6–8
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Very high
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Designed to
Sensitivity envelope
Low overall, and consistent.
In the same universe
Sister series.
About the author