Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

MOM PULLS UP to the top of Gramp’s farm road. “Kayo, do you have your work gloves?” I can see Gramp setting up the syruping stove next to the spring creek at the bottom of the driveway. “Yes, Mom.” I get out of the car. Mom has asked me at least four times this morning. “Honey, have a good time with Gramp, and have a great harvest! Tell your grandpa I’m running late.” Mom beeps the horn and waves, and then pulls away. I tramp down the slushy driveway. Rivulets of water have carved the icepack into stripes of icy islands, and all of the melted water runs down to the creek at the bottom. Everything is a muddy mess. It’s maple syruping time for sure. “Hey, sweet girl!” Gramp…

WHEN EIGHTEEN -YEAR-OLD FANIA Landau arrived shoeless at the Auschwitz death camp in July 1942, a man from her Polish hometown of Bialystok recognized her and told her she had to do everything she could to stay alive. Like countless other Jewish prisoners, Fania soon realized that key to her survival was the preservation of humanity amidst the horrors of Auschwitz and the constant bolstering of her faith that one day she would again be free. Despite the desolation, the hunger, the harsh conditions, Fania strived daily to nurture the spark of hope in her soul, as one harrowing year slowly melded into the next. Meager rations were shared, words of encouragement were spoken, and numerous other acts of kindness brought mutual fortification to the women who toiled twelve-hour shifts…

Pippa is helping her younger brother, James, with his mathematics while their governess, Hettie, is ill. But James becomes distracted by a flying machine, like a giant dragonfly, in the square outside their London townhouse. James races out to join the crowd surrounding the Dragonfly as Doctor Hargrove, its inventor, is about to embark on an experimental flight. Chasing after her brother, Pippa meets a street lad, who gives her a handkerchief when she sniffles in the January cold. He points to James climbing into the back of the Dragonfly. Pippa pushes through the crowd toward her brother. With a helpful boost from the street lad, Pippa crawls into the tail as the machine takes off. “Welcome aboard, Pip!” James exclaims. INSIDE THE DRAGONFLY’S carapace, the din overwhelmed me. Steam…

Dear Cricket, I just started getting your magazine, and it is really awesome! I love reading all the cool stories you put in it, especially the true ones! I also like that you have the Letterbox. I like seeing what other people think about your mag. I love to read realistic fiction. My favorite colors are blue, green, and pink; my favorite foods are steak, baked potatoes, and broccoli. Writing and baby dolls are also hobbies of mine. I have some friends who take a mile from the inch that I give them. Cricket have you ever been to Ireland? I hope to visit there someday. Have you ever seen a leprechaun? I have! My friends and I have a leprechaun club where we tell each other about leprechauns we…

WINNERS NOVEMBER 2014 STORY CONTEST Crowd-Sorcery Fantasy First prize 10 and under Christie Maxwell, age 10 Santa Clara, CA Fielie rolled over. Even though she lay on a soft mattress, her skin prickled as though she was lying on a straw pallet. Her green eyes blinked shut in pain, then opened again, now the gold-green of a dandelion. She squirmed as midnight-black fur grew up through her skin and her long, sharp fingernails curved like claws. Her thick, short black hair parted to reveal triangular ears, and her lower lip was adorned by curving fangs. Entranced, Fielie leapt off the bed and out the window, landing, graceful and silent, on the fence. Her paws padded softly across the fence, her tail waving gently, as though to say goodbye. She slipped…

“Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a brave king and a beautiful queen, who were so much in love that wherever they went, people stopped what they were doing just to watch them pass.” BETWEEN THE LINES by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer submitted by Audrey Lardie of Ann Arbor, MI “How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries.” WILDWOOD (The Wildwood Chronicles, Book 1) by Colin Meloy submitted by Olivia M. of Chicago, IL “Clay didn’t think he was the right dragon for a Big Heroic Destiny.” THE DRAGONET PROPHECY (Wings of Fire, Book 1) by Tui T. Sutherland submitted by Jessica…

IN LONDON IN the 1760s, many people made a living entertaining the rich. One of these was Teresa Corneily, an Italian opera singer. She rented the elegant Carlisle House in Soho Square and decorated it in the highest style. Just one of the plate glass mirrors in the ballroom cost 500 pounds (equal to more than $100,000 today). There she presented a series of suppers, dances, concerts, and masquerade parties. The events were “subscription only,” and Corneily took care to sell tickets only to the most desirable members of society. The British royal family and visiting foreign royalty attended her assemblies. At one of her masquerades, a Belgian musician and inventor, John Joseph Merlin, made a grand entrance. He was wearing his new invention, ice skates fitted with rows of…

DO YOU LIKE GADGETS and newfangled notions? Paulette Bochnig Sharkey tells me that American author Samuel Clemens did. You might know Clemens better as Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, its sequel Huckleberry Finn, and other classics. Samuel Clemens had a lifelong fascination with inventions, especially those that eased his life as a writer. Imagine his excitement when he bought his first typewriter in 1874! Those early models didn’t work very well, but he kept practicing and eventually became the first author to use a typewriter professionally. He often gave money to inventors to help them develop their ideas. (He was hoping for a share in large profits later.) Unfortunately, all the inventions Clemens invested in were failures. There were over one hundred of them, everything from…