The Cricket in Times Square - George Selden
My friend Cindy had this book on her list of "The Books that Built Me" and I realized that I hadn't ever read it myself. And it's a Newberry Honor book and everything! So, I decided to give it a go.
It is a charming book, with all the classic kids' book elements: the down-on-their-luck family, animals that can talk to each other but not to humans, the little fellow from the country who finds himself shocked and awed by (but also a little bit drawn to) the Big City, the nobody who becomes a somebody. Oh, and who can forget Sai Fong, the wise old Chinaman who knows about crickets? (I was a little wary at first about him, but I was pleasantly surprised by the decent transliterations of Mandarin used in the book.)
And when Chester cricket grows tired of performing, and feels that art-for-money no longer brings him joy—well, that tugged at something in my heart. Of course, I suppose that's the attitude that kept me from majoring in art in college and sent me to math instead.
I don't know that I'll go look up all of Selden's sequels to Cricket, but I'll definitely keep it on my list to read to Ridley once she's a little bigger.
Fed to jhliu's brain | November 30, 2004
