Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2017 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

GRÀNDFATHER RAN HIS knobby fingers through his bushy gray hair as he shuffled down the short hallway from his living quarters to the chilly storefront. “Brrr, cold day. Where is that boy with the water for tea?” he muttered to himself, as he pulled his thick woolen shawl closer around his stooped shoulders. “Ah! There he is, taking his time.” A slight boy of twelve, straining under the weight of two wooden water buckets, stumbled through the doorway. “Torix, my boy, what has kept you? Why you’re soaking wet! Let me take one of those buckets. Come, come back to the fire.” Torix gladly handed one of the heavy buckets to his grandfather. Struggling with both hands, he heaved the other to the cozy room at the rear of the…

HAVE YOU NOTICED how the winter holidays glow with light? Kinaras, menorahs, Christmas lights, and candles of all kinds shine from windows everywhere. In northern lands, where winter days are short and dark, most people celebrate some form of the winter solstice, when the days begin to get longer and the sun passes higher in the sky. The ancient Norsemen of Scandinavia put out “last year’s embers” in their hearths and joyfully welcomed the newly lit fire at yuletide. Today their descendants celebrate Saint Lucia’s Days, when girls wear crowns of lit candles. Countries nearer the equator celebrate the end of the gray rainy season and the return of the sunny dry season. People in China, Japan, and Vietnam light lanterns; Hindus in India celebrate Diwali with floating candles; and…

SPARKS FLEW AS Yaron’s hammer came down on his anvil. He was one of the best blacksmiths in all of Israel. Now he was making something new. This time, he was carefully shaping a horseshoe into a crab. The table forks he had sculpted into snails and an old railroad spike that had become a bird were sitting on a shelf in his workshop. Yaron believed that something special was hiding in each piece of metal. If he looked carefully enough, he could find it. But there was one large piece of steel in his shop that he refused to work with. It was something his friend Avi had given to him. That something was a used rocket. It had come from across the southern border of Israel, and it…

HOW MANY STARS are in the sky? Where is the center of the world? These are questions that people have asked since they first looked at the earth and the sky. One day an imam came to Ak¸ehir in Turkey and asked these same questions. The villagers rushed to find their wise man, Hodja Nasreddin, to give the imam learned answers. “There are as many stars in the sky as there are hairs on my donkey,” said Hodja with authority, “and the center of the world is where my donkey puts its front feet.” He smiled fondly at his donkey. “Harumphhhh!” replied the imam, disturbed that Hodja had reduced these universal questions to answers the size of his own stable yard. “Then how many hairs are in my beard?” “That’s…

One rainy night, while alone in the castle library with her talking gargoyle, Marcus, Princess Audrey finds a book with the odd title Finding Angel. Meanwhile, in modern times, a girl named Angel is celebrating her thirteenth birthday. Her little brother Zack gives her a leather-bound book, with the title embossed in gold, Finding Audrey. When Angel opens the book later in her room, she hears a voice. Angel is confused, until she begins to suspect that the voice belongs to the princess she has been reading about in the book. Audrey and Angel are thrilled to discover that they can magically communicate through their books. When Audrey writes her name on a piece of parchment and closes it in her book, Angel receives it in her book, although the…

A LONG TIME ago in Edo, Japan, the god Kashima sat in his shrine, as still and heavy as a statue. His shrine stood atop a large hill, and through the doorway he could see the patchwork of farms, rice paddies, and wooden huts spread out below. A peasant woman walked into the shrine and bowed her head in prayer. “Great Kashima,” she said, “thank you for watching over us and protecting us from earthquakes.” Kashima nodded and said, “You’re welcome.” He would have liked to speak with her more, maybe sit down with her for a cup of tea, for he dearly loved his people. But he could not. If he moved his heavy feet even a few inches, he risked losing control of Namazu, the catfish who dwelled…

Another happy holiday season is upon us, filled with good cheer, family gatherings, crisp autumn weather, and joyful celebrations. To brighten Cricket Country during this festive season, everybuggy wants to see your best work of art celebrating something you love about this time of year. Maybe you will celebrate the season of peace and joy by creating a peaceful scene or a sign of peace like Yaron’s rose. Perhaps your art will be inspired by a favorite holiday tradition, like a Thanksgiving gathering of all your family, or a Kwanza celebration, or lighting the Hanukkah menorah—or even a tradition from another country, like Diwali. You might draw an exciting picture of your favorite fall sport, like soccer or football, or a scene of fun winter activities, or a colorful Thanksgiving…