Chester, a cricket, takes up residence in a New York City newsstand and teams up with a fast-talking mouse, a cat and the son of the newsstand owner to rescue the business from financial ruin. A Newbery Honor Book.
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Chester, a cricket, takes up residence in a New York City newsstand and teams up with a fast-talking mouse, a cat and the son of the newsstand owner to rescue the business from financial ruin. A Newbery Honor Book.
Read Less
Add this copy of Cricket in Times Square (Dolphin) to cart. $63.76, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1977 by Littlehampton Book Services Lt.
I bought this as a Christmas for my young great-nephew and decided to read it myself. The this a wonderful tale about a cricket named Chester from Connecticut who gets stranded on a train and winds up in Grand Central Terminal in NYC. After being befriended by a cat and a mouse and eventually by a little boy who works with his parents selling newspapers in the terminal. Discovering his gift for playing music with his wings, he is trained by his friends to play a wide variety of music including classical pieces which he excels at and soon becomes a famous performer who draws the attention at the NY Times and crowds of people. Written with a magical touch and illustrated with line drawings, the book floats away in a compelling beauty of its own.
Rosanne
Aug 11, 2007
Beautiful
This classic, which should be hailed as an equal to E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, actually has much in common with that masterpiece. Not only are they both lovingly illustrated with line drawings by the incomparable Garth Williams, but they both revel in the simple beauty of little things in nature that often get taken for granted. The Cricket in Times Square places the beautiful song of a cricket in the grimy setting of a subway station, with sublime results. Chester Cricket, his friends Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, and the Bellini family, whose station newsstand benefits from Chester's music, are wonderful characters with great charm. But it's more than an urban version of Charlotte's Web. Friendship, love, letting go, and the appreciation for beauty and simplicity - the scene in which the cricket's song stops traffic long enough for everybody to hear it has a heart-tugging, strange beauty that almost brought tears to my eyes - make this a classic in its own right. A great pick.
