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The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends #1)

The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends #1)

Current price: $18.99
Publication Date: January 1st, 1960
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN:
9780374316501
Pages:
144

Description

After Chester lands, in the Times Square subway station, he makes himself comfortable in a nearby newsstand. There, he has the good fortune to make three new friends: Mario, a little boy whose parents run the falling newsstand, Tucker, a fast-talking Broadway mouse, and Tucker's sidekick, Harry the Cat. The escapades of these four friends in bustling New York City makes for lively listening and humorous entertainment. And somehow, they manage to bring a taste of success to the nearly bankrupt newsstand.

The Cricket in Times Square is a 1961 Newbery Honor Book.

About the Author

George Selden (1929-1989) was the author of A Cricket in Times Square, winner of the 1961 Newbery Honor and a timeless children's classic. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Selden received his B.A. from Yale, where he was a member of the Elizabethan Club and contributed to the literary magazine. He spent three summer sessions at Columbia University and, after college, studied for a year in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship. People often asked Selden how he got the idea for The Cricket in Times Square. "One night I was coming home on the subway, and I did hear a cricket chirp in the Times Square subway station. The story formed in my mind within minutes. An author is very thankful for minutes like those, although they happen all too infrequently." The popular Cricket series grew to seven titles, including Tucker's Countryside and The Old Meadow. In 1973, The Cricket in Times Square was made into an animated film. Selden wrote more than fifteen books, as well as two plays. His storytelling blends the marvelous with the commonplace realities of life, and it was essential to him that his animal characters display true emotions and feelings.

Garth Williams (1912-96) illustrated all seven of the Chester Cricket books and many other works, including Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

Praise for The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends #1)

“The story of a musical cricket and his friends, a mouse and a cat of real character, who took up their abode in a Times Square newsstand...Most appealing whimsy with beautiful illustrations by Garth Williams.” —Starred, School Library Journal