Description:

Last week I saw a mermaid. It’s not something I’d pretend! I’d really like to catch

her so she could be my friend. But how to catch a mermaid? You don’t learn this

in school. We’ll need to build a gentle trap and start near the tide pool. Many claim

to have caught a mermaid, but can YOU? Perfect for summer, the newest title in 

the New York Times bestselling How to Catch series will have children and parents

excited to see if these characters can actually pull of catching a mermaid! 

Transcription: 

How to catch a mermaid written by Adam Wallace illustrated by Andy Elkerton Last

week I saw a mermaid. It’s not something I pretend! I'd really like to catch her so 

she could be my friend. We’d have the best adventures I'd learn her mermaid ways.

We’d tour her mermaid city. We’d swim for days and days. Hey you two, come 

follow me! I need you on my team. The water's where we need to plan our

mermaid-catching scheme. But how to catch a mermaid? You don't learn this in

school. We’ll need to build a gentle trap and start near the tide pool. First, I have

this jewelry box she'll love this bait I bought her. She can't resist a treasure chest!

Oh no! It’s in the water! Well, mermaids love bright shiny things. 

A crown will catch her eye. We’ll lure her in with this new trap and then our net 

will fly! Her seaweed lasso snatched the crown! We’ll need a different plan. 

Let’s put a sparkly necklace down inside a giant clam. She switched the necklace

with a rock! To stop the clam from snapping. Now she has another prize. 

We need some better trapping! We made a lasso of our own, and hid in this 

seaweed. She swam too fast for us to catch.Oh when will we succeed?

Now, let's try to switch it up and play some funky beats.Maybe that will draw 

her in.oh no! There are sharks! Retreat! We escaped from all the sharks. 

That was a scary scene. But now we get to up our game. With this cool 

submarine.This submarine has robot arms to catch our fishy lass but this 

mermaid can't be caught. She really is too fast! It’s time to pull out all the 

stops. We have to be quite sneaky. But she hurt our trap from far away-

that treasure chest was creaky. Oh No! Look out the Sharks are back!

We’re doomed what can we do we used up all our traps and bait. Without 

some help we're through. Our mermaid comes to save the day! 

She made a trap to save us she scares the Sharks and scoops us up.

She really is courageous. Hooray! Were safe and back on land three cheers to our 

mermaid. We’ll miss her smart and clever tricks. We wish she could have stayed. 

Questions: 

1. What did the girl see at the sea?

2. Retell how they tried to catch the mermaid?

3. What did the mermaid do for them?