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More than simply a compilation of historic excerpts
Compiled and edited by Marianne Carus (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Cricket Magazine Group), Celebrate Cricket: 30 Years Of Stories And Art commemorates the longevity and enduring inspiration of Cricket magazine by collecting award-winning stories and poems, illustrated with black-and-white pictures and a few color cover illustrations of magazine issues. Yet Celebrate Cricket is more than simply a compilation of historic excerpts; there are also fresh contributions and reflections of the great people who founded and contributed to Cricket magazine, including a tale from the magazine's early days by Lloyd Alexander himself, rounding out this very highly recommended tribute that is a "must" addition to school and community library collections for young readers. ... Read more

Book Description

That's the sound crickets make. You've probably heard them chirp on a summer evening. But did you know that they make their chirping sounds by rubbing their wings together, and that only male crickets can chirp?

Inside this book you'll learn about crickets, and even how to tell the temperature by counting a cricket's chirps.

Melvin Berger and Megan Lloyd have created a wonderful introduction to a fascinating insect: the cricket.

... Read more

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"Inspirational, Reflective 'Cricket Song' Worth Listening To
'Have You Heard the Cricket Song' is a timeless book that all of us ought to have in our libraries.Both simplistic and profoundly complex in its message, the author and illustrator together have created a respite, asafe-haven, for our souls.All we need to do is listen.Throughdescriptive, poetic images, and serene, gentle illustrations, Abbott andBossin capture the essence of the human spirit's unrelenting search formeaning and purpose and show us all how we can find it.To experience thefull richness and depth of the message, readers will want to ponder andsavor each page time and time again, and go on to share it with those theylove. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

We LOVE this book
This is a great book. It rhymes, so it makes it very easy to read and on each page you can "click" the crickets. It also has bright, colorful illustrations.This is one of our favorites.

A wonderful book - for child AND reader!
What an enchanting book!The text weaves a great story with charming graphics and fun, somewhat tongue-twisting, rhymes.Who knew that cricket clicks could have so many nuances?:-)

My young daughter loves sticking her hand through the "holes" in the pages where the crickets go, and getting me to "click" the crickets.Always a fun time...

I'm sure she will continue to love it as she engages with the story.The narrative talks about a young cricket learning to sing, with both mommy's help and the encouragement of other animals (who sing along).Too cute!

great book
my 13 month old loves this book...The colors and rhyming story are wonderful...My son likes the crickets, which you press and they make a "click" sound...This entertains him while we are reading the story...you won't regret this purchase! ... Read more

Book Description
This resource is directly related to its literature equivalent and filled with a variety of cross-curricular lessons to do before, during, and after reading the book. This reproducible book includes sample plans, author information, vocabulary building ideas, cross-curriculum activities, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and ideas for culminating and extending the novel. ... Read more

Product Description
John and Dot Peerybingle's marriage is threatened by a wide difference in their ages. Worried that Dot might be unfaithful, John consults the spirit of the Cricket on the Hearth whose chirping Dot has said brings luck. The cricket assures John that all will be well. In the end, misunderstandings are cleared up and the couple's happiness is restored. A publication of Boomer Books, especially designed and typeset for easy reading.Download Description
THE kettle began it! Don't tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said. I know better. Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she couldn't say which of them began it; but, I say the kettle did. I ought to know, I hope! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Yuck!
When Dickens was good, he was very very good.When he was bad, he was wordy and sappy and boring.Did you ever wonder why you never heard of the three stories in this book?Because they're so unremarkable!The title story is the best; i.e. it's the only one that's even readable.Do yourself a favor, don't read this book ... Read more

Book Description
Twelve-year-old Kia Yang-nicknamed 'Little Cricket'-has always lived among her extended family in their tiny Laotian village. But their peaceful lives are shattered one day when North Vietnamese soldiers destroy much of their village, and Kia and her family are forced to escape the encroaching war. After three years in a Thai refugee camp, they finally receive heartbreaking news: only Kia, her brother, Xigi, and their grandfather may emigrate to America. In Minnesota, Kia is overwhelmed by her new life, isolated by culture and language. It is only when Xigi gets into big trouble and Grandfather becomes ill that Kia discovers that they are not as alone as she thought-and that others are more isolated than she'd realized. Set in Laos and Minnesota in the 1970s, this is a powerful first novel from a promising writer. ... Read more

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Nancy King
For a girl of twelve Kia has been through much in her short life.She has experienced the horrors of war, the confinements of a refugee camp, and the sorrow of leaving loved ones behind to travel to a distant and very different country.Here she discovers that by trusting others she is better able to adjust to her new life, and is soon able to help her grandfather adjust as well. Author, Jackie Brown weaves a thoughtful historical fiction that is as beautiful as the stories told by Grandfather's pa ndau (Hmong embroidered story cloths). ... Read more

Product Description
Perfect HeroCricket Starr Melissa doesn't believe in magic, but when a video game character she creates crawls out of her new monitor she has to wonder if her opinion wasn't a bit too hasty.Bran is happy to be outside of the computer and wants to stay and make lots of passionate love to his lovely creator. He'll do anything, including setting up a magical Christmas, to prove to Melissa that he is the hero she's always wanted. Polar HeatMary Winter Studying polar bears is Norwegian scientist Aud Myhre's passion. The leader of an Arctic research team, she stays in the frozen north over the holidays to obtain necessary data, with help from her sexy colleague Svein. She didn't count on a storm trapping them in a cave with no means of warmth except each other. Svein Eide has more insight into the lives of polar bears than anyone knows. To keep Aud safe, he has two choices. Reveal his shapeshifting abilities and lead her back to camp, or find another way to keep her warm. He knows which he'd prefer. Finding the LightLiddy Midnight Dark Mage Moran is mortally wounded in a battle of magickal wills. Seeking a mage to heal him, he instead stumbles into a small village. Moran's work required celibacy. When he awakens in bed with a naked woman, he isn't certain if this is a fevered dream or she is a Yule gift. The widow Enid is the only one with room and time to care for him. No mage, she has only a meager supply of herbs and body heat. Yule is a time of celebration and sex represents the foundation of life. Unholy MagicRavyn Wilde Franco has loved Tehya almost since the moment they met. But when work calls him away, he realizes he can't return to her, convinced she'd never survive in his world. His wolf didn't agree. Tehya misses Franco, but right now she's got bigger problems. She takes it upon herself to investigate strange vibrations coming from the mountains near her cabin, much to the horror of Franco and her family. After all, she's a mere human as far as they know.Gift Wrap OptionalTJ Michaels Melaniece is looking forward to spending a quiet holiday at her vacation home up in the mountains. Expecting to enjoy ripping open gifts with her family, she's surprised when they spring the ultimate present on her Michael Bannon. Could his appearance have anything to do with the strange vampire dreams she's been having lately? Michael is determined not to blow a second chance with the woman he should have loved years ago, even if it means revealing his true nature. Is a good guy willing to be very bad to get what he wants? Hell, yes...including drive Melaniece out of her mind. Witch s CurseMyla Jackson As punishment for using magic unwisely, Catherine Wein, ex-witch, is doomed to spend each year in a different woman's life. It's New Year's Eve and at the stroke of midnight she'll make the switch to another host. Catherine's determined to grab for as much happiness as she can with her remaining hours in Kindra Merlot's body. Enter sexy cop Sam Cade. Dumped by his girlfriend right after Christmas, Sam isn't in the mood to celebrate until he sees the willowy beauty Kindra. Her sensuality and sexual aggressiveness revive his lagging spirits. Is she the one for him or is she another lying, cheating woman like his ex? Will he have more than tonight to find out? ... Read more

Book Description
Nine-year-old Simms is enormously wise, yet no one — not even his parents — will listen to him. Cricket, living a lonely life beneath the floorboards in Simms's room, worries about how he will reunite with his bride-to-be.

One winter's day, life changes for both cricket and boy when they discover they can communicate with each other. Through Morse code, the two tell of their troubles, listen to each other's ideas, and together learn that it's sometimes difficult to do the right thing.

Reissued with charming new illustrations, this beloved classic by acclaimed author Felice Holman is sure to delight a new generation of readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bird and beast, fish and fowl, cricket and boy
It seems a little odd that the book Felice Holman is best remembered for is, "Slake's Limbo". That gritty urban drama about a boy living in the subway system of New York has captured the imaginations of thousands of child readers. So who woulda thunk that the same author would be capable of a sweet animal drama like, "The Cricket Winter"? Originally published in 1967, I would love to know the story behind its republication by Eerdmans Books For Young Readers. Now the story has been newly paired with illustrator Robyn Thomas so as to fill a hitherto unknown gap in children book collections everywhere. Part morality tale, part fable, the book is an entirely peculiar tale all of its own design. Some people will question its morality. Others its message. And though I cannot quite figure out what it is that the story is trying to say, I will proclaim it a most interesting tale that is definitely bound to inspire a great deal of talk. Again.

For you see, there once was a cricket in love. And, as the book points out, "a cricket-in-love is so tender and heartrending, so attuned to his love, that he is, for the moment, at least, quite perfect". So this cricket was until the day he and his lady quarreled over how to raise their children. Seriously miffed, the lady cricket left our hero in his snug little home beneath the floorboards of a house, until the winter snow blocked up the entrance and he was forced to stay within. Meanwhile, the boy of the house, named Simms Silvanus "though he would have much preferred `John'" builds a telegraph key with which to speak in Morse Code. As it happens, the cricket is fluent in this code and the two converse together over the house's big problem. You see, there is a rat beneath the house who is a scourge upon the building. He is currently starving a mouse family and is the bane of Simms' father's life. Now, boy and cricket must determine what to do about the rat, ethically, practically, and morally. And the answer is not an easy one.

I would dare say that, "The Cricket Winter" has more to say about being "good" than most preachy or didactic children's books would ever dare. It raises some pretty shocking questions too. If a person is literally going to cause you and your children to die by their actions AND they have been informed of this fact AND they do not care, are you allowed to kill them? Does anything justify killing a fellow creature? If so, where do you draw the line? This book doesn't delve quite as deeply into these questions as I might have liked, but it certainly goes further than most stories would. When a nice mouse family informs the cricket that the only thing to do is to kill the rat, rather than go along with this plan (as most fable or fairy tale characters would) the cricket is horrified. And rightfully so. Holman makes the entire situation out to be a state of war, and in war there is death. Still, does that mean that killing the rat is the last recourse? The characters in the book seem to think so. Needless to say, whether you agree with the cricket's hand in causing the rat's downfall or not, the book is certainly open to a great deal of discussion.

The funny thing is, the whole dead rat debate isn't the only moral pivot of the story. There is also a dilemma the boy must face. Towards the end of the story, Simms has a choice. If he tells his father how he caught the rat he'll earn the much-needed respect he's wanted so much from his parent until now. On the other hand, if he tells his father where he found the rat, his father might well set traps around the rat hole and eventually kill the mouse family. Simms, therefore, must choose between his own desires and the lives of the innocent (or not-so-innocent, all depending on how you feel the mice influenced the rat's death in the first place).

On top of all of this are Robyn Thomas's new illustrations, filling out the tale. In the original publication of "The Cricket Winter", the illustrations were done by one Ralph Pinto. They were detailed in-depth pictures with plenty of cross-hatching and delicate linework. All in all, the animals looked realistic. Now the book is drawn in a kind of dotty pen-and-ink style that seemingly bears equal thanks to both Peter Sis and Paul O. Zelinsky. With it, Thomas creates incredibly soft and rounded pictures that come off as sweet but not saccharine. Generally this gives "The Crickiet Winter" a far more fairy-tale feel than the original pics. The only time this style is a problem is when the rat appears on the page. Rather than the gross disgusting character we read about and that Pinto created in all his nasty glory, this rat is almost cuddly in a hard-eyed way. Just the same, Thomas shows real skill as an illustrator of this book. One can hope that we will find more children's books bearing her name in the future.

After reading, "The Cricket Winter", I felt deeply inclined to compare it to such other animal-related children's books as, "The Mouse and His Child". Both books deal with stories that mean more than just their plots and characters. There's a lot to chew on in a book of this sort. I'm pleased beyond words to find that more children will now have a chance to experience "The Cricket Winter" on their own. Let us hope this will lead to the republication of more children's books of the past. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful book that exposes the wonders of the small.
A fantastic book very much along the lines of Sigurd Olson's brilliant nature prose and yet not far from Aldo Leopold's writings.A must if you like or have any interest in sound or insects.You'll never listen to theworld outside the same way again!! ... Read more

Book Description
Learning first words is Very simple and fun with Eric Carle! This mini board book shows ten images and ten easy words from one of Eric Carle’s classic Very books. First-time readers will love to learn words such as flower, moon, grass, turtle, and foot. ... Read more