Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2017 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

Dear Cricket, I am a big fan of this magazine. I study in India, in an awesome place right in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by the Himalayas. I am away from my parents in America for nine months a year. My brother, who is two years younger than me, is with me. Every morning I wake up to the sight of the mountains right outside my dorm window! My friends, who I have been with since preschool, are 99 percent not American. Most of them are Spanish, English, or Australian. My favorite story in Cricket was “The Forty Thieves” (January–May/June 2016). I am really good in Indian classical music and Indian dance. Except for this, I am normal. Maya P. India My mom really likes traveling, so I’ve…

“Last June, my parents jumped off a roof because of a pinky ring.” SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS by Ellen Booraem submitted by Zora Dabbs of Evanston, IL “It was a vast, shining globe and it cast a light of lambent topaz into space—but it was not a sun.” STARS WARS, EPISODE IV, A NEW HOPE by George Lucas submitted by Maellie Lewna of Milwaukee, WI “Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped.” THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani submitted by Maya P.of Cincinnati, OH “In the fall of 1777, Philadelphia sat twitching like a nervous mouse.” THE SCARLET STOCKINGS SPY by Trinka Hakes Noble submitted by Vanessa Darigain of Albuquerque, NM “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.”…

HOW DOES YOUR family celebrate Mother’s Day? Do you bring Mom breakfast in bed? Do you give her flowers, make her a card, or take her to a favorite restaurant? The original mother’s days were observed rather differently—as days to go out into the community to help the needy and to work for peace. Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1862, was the first person to propose that the United States observe a national mother’s day. A mother herself as well as a social activist, she joined the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the American Civil War. In this organization, women played a leadership role working in the crowded army camps to improve unhealthy conditions that cost the lives of many soldiers.…

ASHA ARRIVED ON a bright summer day. My new stepsister, Beatrice, and I leaned over the fence and watched as men carried things into the house next door: lamps, bookcases, boxes, a green couch. My mom and I moved here to Seattle a month ago when she got married. From the top of the hill where we live, we can see Puget Sound sparkling in the sunshine. When Mom first saw the view, she squeezed my shoulder and gasped, “Seth, isn’t it beautiful? It’s like living in a postcard.” I nodded because I wanted Mom to be happy. She and I walked down to the pier and looked for seals, just the two of us, and when we saw one with his shining black eyes poke his nose out of…

BOO LIKED TO swim. He liked running through the ship’s grass-floored, ivy-clad passageways and playing the sports handball and pelota with other children. He enjoyed tending the crops and the way the rich, sweet smell from the liquid in the hydroponics vats clung to his clothes. But most of all he liked to swim in the secret places only he knew. Boo had earned his nickname with his sudden unexpected appearances: at two years old he had found an entrance to the ventilation system and disappeared overnight. His family searched but found nothing until they heard scratching from a ventilation grating. Instead of the expected rat they found Boo, grinning upside down from the duct, naked and filthy. Despite his family’s watchful gaze from then on, Boo found his way…

First prize 10 and under Stella Church, age 10 Seattle, WA Bones Outside the cave entrance, grass sways in the wind, with a soft musical rattle small bones lie closer to the entrance, where the grass is shorter they gleam brightly in the moonlight soft sounds of breathing come from inside the cave the bones gleam even brighter, adding something indescribable, but very important, to the landscape The deer trots along in the moonlight, glancing warily about him he knows that a predator is on the prowl he can sense her presence, weighing heavily on the night air she is closer now he can almost feel her bright piercing eyes and sleek shining fur then he feels her claws slashing at his neck and then he is dead another bone…

Kai Kaus, Shah of ancient Persia, was not noted for being a great king. In fact, he was said to have been rather foolish. But he will long be remembered for his legendary flight. From his youth Kai Kaus had been fascinated by the heavens. One fine spring day he sent for his astronomers to tell them of his plan. “I have thought of a way to fly,” he said, “to see for myself the nature of the sun and moon and how it is that night follows day. I will study the planets and the stars that surround them. Nothing like this has ever been planned until now!” The Shah’s eyes shone with excitement. His astronomers stared at him in astonishment. Kai Kaus laughed to see their expressions. Then…

I RECENTLY RECEIVED a letter from Ms. Dee Anne Lamb, in which she asks a riddle: What comes in many colors and sizes, but blossoms only in the rain? Do you know the answer? It’s an umbrella, of course! And this is what Ms. Lamb tells us about umbrellas: “The word umbrella means ‘little shade’ or ‘little shadow’ in Latin, because the very first umbrellas sheltered their owners from the sun, not the rain. No one knows who invented the umbrella, but ancient paintings show servants in China, Egypt, and Assyria carrying large and probably expensive umbrellas to shade their masters from the sun. “Umbrellas became symbols of wealth and prestige; one ruler was actually called ‘King of the White Elephants and Lord of Twenty-four Umbrellas!’ Even today, in Myanmar…