The Cricket In Times Square
I've been curious about the contents of this book for a long time. Well, I got it on audio tape, listened during my evening walks, and am curious no more.
The Cricket in Times Square
By George Selden
I finished listening today. The book is about a cricket, Chester, who gets stuck in a picnic basket in Connecticut, then gets transported to Times Square in NYC. He gets adopted by a boy and meets friends: Tucker, a mouse, and Harry, a cat. This is one of those stories that feature talking animals, something I often can't finish reading. But I stuck it out and the story was a rather nice one. I'd tell more but I don't want to spoil it for future readers. For me, the message was that talent triumphs over negativity, or something like that.
Selden wrote seven books with Chester, Tucker and Harry. He wrote a lot of other books too... but A Cricket In Times Square must be the most popular because it was named a Newbery honor book in 1961.
My favorite character was the Chinaman.
When I started listening to this on my evening walks, something special happened. On the tape you can hear a whistle when Chester the cricket chirps. After hearing this for the first time, I suddenly realized I was hearing this sound all around me. Yes, everywhere there on the banks of the Klamath River, crickets were chirping, but I never even noticed the sound until I heard it on the tape. And it was loud! Just goes to show how we can tune things out rather than focus on them.
Here's a good bio of George Selden.
#
