Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

“I DON’T REMEMBER any of these Greek verbs,” Caeso whispers to me as our teacher, Sabellus, turns his attention to the younger boys. I stare at the passage of Sophocles I am laboring to copy onto my tablet. It’s late summer, which makes for a long, hot school day sitting on a hard bench, wearing a woolen tunic. The street just beyond our awning is much more interesting than learning where the ancient hero Oedipus might be buried. Next door, a shrill woman berates the baker. The blacksmith’s bellows wheeze, and his hammer bangs. Horses clop; carts rumble on the rocky pavement toward the center of Rome. It’s the same every day, but fascinating compared to lessons. “Why do we need all this Greek anyway?” my twin continues. “We’re too…

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt Ally can’t read and has made it up to sixth grade covering up this fact. She gets teased and doesn’t want to ask for help, fearing that everyone will think she is dumb. However, her new teacher sees that she is smart and helps her learn. She learns more about herself, learns how to read, and meets some new friends along the way. This book was amazing! I smiled a lot and almost cried. Dragonrider Blab About Books, Chatterbox The Imaginary Veterinary series by Suzanne Selfors A boy is forced to go live with his grandpa in a really small town for an entire summer. He’s not looking forward to it, but all these interesting things start happening to him! He meets…

The Unicorn is the most beautiful and the most dangerous of all the world’s creatures. But the Unicorn will thrive in the human world only when the virtues it embodies are made manifest among mankind. The Unicorn wanders no longer in the woods and fields of Men. And perchance it never will again. — Esthelle (Es-thel-ay), Rivendell (I wish) ;) Earth Dragons are related to Fire Dragons and Sea Dragons, but Earth Dragons are very small, almost as small as robins. Unlike their cousins, Earth Dragons are usually friendly, since almost nothing can hurt them. But do not anger an Earth dragon. If one’s temper is ignited, it will burn for centuries. — Ivy/Chinchilla Shadow moved through the forest in wolf form, not making a sound. The sun was setting,…

WHEN HIS FRIENDS played in the street, the boy on the porch sometimes looked up to watch, calling out to them, and smiling at their games. More often, though, he did not even notice them. For Srinivasa Ramanujan, the beautiful and compelling calculations on his slate were all the entertainment he needed. Ramanujan was born in 1887, in south India, and grew up in Kumbakonam, about 160 miles south of the port city of Madras. His parents were poor: his father was a store clerk, and his mother sang in the temple. The family boarded college students to bring in extra money. A quiet, sensitive, and pleasant boy, Ramanujan showed his talent for mathematics from the moment he started his studies. By the time he was eleven, school mathematics was…

Dear Everybuggy, I thoroughly enjoy your magazine. My best subjects are arithmetic and writing. Right now I am practicing the Queen’s English, at which I am progressing quite slowly. My list of favorite books consists of Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games. Please write a passage about how the abilities of children are sometimes underestimated. Rhiannon Jo C., age 10 Conway, Massachusetts Hello, Everybuggy! I’ve been planning to send this letter for years. My mother language is Spanish, but I’ve been learning English by my own self at home and now I can understand everything in English pretty well. When I was really little I got Ladybug, then Spider, and now Cricket. I can’t wait to get Cicada! These magazines made my English a lot more complete, and…

ANCIENT ROMANS WERE the first great arch bridge builders. They realized that it’s impossible to make an arch without supporting it as it goes up. The basic Roman arch is built starting at the abutments (masonry masses supporting and receiving the thrust of part of an arch). Stones are added higher and higher along the curve, until only one more stone, called the keystone, is needed at the top. The Romans used a wooden frame, called the centering, to support arches as they were being built. The centering was removed after the keystone was placed. What You’ll Need: 1 cup sand 1/2 cup cornstarch 4 cups water 2 old saucepans to use as a double boiler wooden spoon a bunch of same-sized rocks a wax paper-covered cylindrical container (an oatmeal…

A POND OR lake with a rocky shore just begs for someone to pick up a stone and toss it into the water. Sometimes the rock makes a satisfying splash. And sometimes, if it is smooth and flat and is thrown just right, the rock skips across the water—bounce, bounce, bounce—before it sinks to the bottom. In the United States, this is called stone skipping. In Great Britain, it is known as stone skimming or playing ducks and drakes. In Ireland it is stone skiffing. In Denmark it is smutting. In French it is called ricochet. The Russians call it pech blini, or making pancakes. Roman author Marcus Minucius Felix wrote in AD 200 of watching boys skip shells on the water. The story of George Washington throwing a silver…

LONG AGO IN Japan there lived a poor tinker named Naoko. He had a large wart in the middle of his forehead. Wherever Naoko went people made fun of his wart. Naoko became so shy that he would take walks only at night when everyone else was asleep. He wouldn’t go beyond his village even to sell the pots that he had made. One night Naoko put on his only robe and went for a walk in the woods. In the darkness he became lost, and after wandering about, decided to wait until morning to return home. He found a hollow tree and climbed inside it to sleep. In the middle of the night Naoko heard music and laughter and woke up. He peeped out of his hiding place. A…

TRICKS WITH NUMBERS can be fun. Here’s one you can try with your friends: Think of a number. Add 3 to this number. Multiply your answer by 2. Subtract 4. Divide by 2. Subtract the number you started with. If you did everything right, your answer will be 1. Try the trick again using a different number. Your answer will still be 1. Here’s an example. Since we can start with any number, let’s pick 5. Think of a number. 5Add 3. 5 + 3 = 8Multiply by 2. 8 x 2 = 16Subtract 4. 16 – 4 = 12Divide by 2. 12 ÷2 = 6Subtract the original number. 6 – 5 = 1 Is this magic? No! Math is magic only for people who don’t understand it. There is…

First prize 10 and under Ruthie Nutt, age 10 Garner, NC Double Dog Dare James watched his best friend, Ryan, sneak closer and closer to the garbage can. He quickly grabbed a cupcake wrapper and ran. The group of them huddled around the wrapper, watching it anxiously. James cleared his throat. “I ate last, let Ginny have it; she hasn’t eaten in so long.” Ryan nodded, and Ginny graciously took the wrapper and licked it clean. Then they ran to their hiding place, an old shed. The wood was rotten, and the roof leaked, but it was all the trio had. Ginny lay down and fell asleep, but Ryan and James huddled together and whispered. Ryan spoke first. “James, you are my one and only friend, but we can’t both…

HERE’S A STORY about a number of things. That is, a story about numbers. The earliest human beings probably counted on their fingers and toes. (I still do). Then, around five thousand years ago, the Egyptians began to use picture writing to show different numbers. For example, the symbol “coiled rope” meant 100; “lotus flower” stood for 1,000; and “tadpole” stood for 100,000. It worked well enough, though it was a bit awkward. How would you like to subtract three lotus flowers from two tadpoles? The Greeks used letters from their alphabet for numbers. So did the Romans. We still use ancient Roman numerals on special occasions, but they’re confusing to most of us. They probably confused the Romans, too. One of the greatest inventions in mathematics came from the…