Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2019 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

“Winter Wonderland” paper sculpture Born in New Jersey, I have always loved playing in the snow whether I’m making a snowman, a snow angel, ice-skating, sledding, or skiing down a mountain as fast as I can. I currently live in the south suburbs of Chicago with my husband, two daughters, and a crazy cat. I still love playing in the snow in the backyard with my girls. There are not many mountains around where I live now, but we try to travel to mountains for skiing as often as we can! I enjoy illustrating snowy scenes, and had a lot of fun making this cover for Cricket. My artwork is primarily in paper, both paper sculpture and cut-paper. The paper sculptures are made from hand-painted and textured papers, which are…

Grandma found her and rang for us to come and in the clatter of dropped bowls and spoons and the scrape of chairs we hurried to see the fawn hidden in the hydrangeas. Her head was turned, her wet nose tucked beneath one long ruddy leg, tightly curled on a bed of crushed milky blooms. We leaned in close, our hands on our knees, yearning to stroke her round skull and spotted fur. Her wide ears fluttered, this way and that, attentive to our whispers. Grandma said the mother was foraging and would soon return to nurse. A spiced breeze blew and the hydrangeas nodded to the singing bees and we bowed bewitched by liquid eyes black, curious, and unafraid.…

THIS SIMPLE RECIPE makes a tasty holiday dessert or treat to serve to your family or friends at a party. The orange and chocolate provides a unique taste to enjoy anytime. WHAT YOU’LL NEED: 4 seedless clementine oranges, peeled and segmented 12 ounces dark chocolate chips 12 ounces ground cashews or almonds (optional) 2 tablespoons water microwave oven microwave-safe bowl wax paper small tongs WHAT TO DO: 1. Combine chocolate chips and water in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove bowl from microwave and stir chocolate with a fork. Continue to microwave for 30 seconds, remove, and stir until chocolate is all liquid and smooth. 2. Line 2 or more plates with wax paper. Using tongs or your fingers, dip one slice of orange at a time…

HERE’S A FUN recycling project that will put old magazines to good use just in time for Christmas! WHAT YOU’LL NEED: old magazine craft foam glue gun tape pompoms WHAT TO DO: 1. Fold down a page of the magazine so that its top edge meets the spine, as in the illustration. 2. Then fold again. 3. Now fold up the bottom of the page to align with the bottom of the magazine. 4. Repeat these steps until all the pages are folded, including the covers. 5. Tape together the back and front covers of the magazine. Cut out a star shape from the craft foam and glue to the top of the tree. Decorate using pompoms as Christmas balls. Use thicker magazines to make a fuller tree, or you…

HEUNGBU SHARED A stone hut with his mother and two younger sisters in the land of morning calm. Their straw roof leaked in rainy season. At night, their feet stuck outside the door when they slept. They earned their living selling mochi. But one winter the sweet rice was used up, and they had no money for more. “You must ask Uncle Nol Bu for help,” Heungbu’s mother said. “He treats us like beggars,” Heungbu grumbled. The old woman sighed. “Please try.” “I will do as you wish, Mother.” Heungbu crossed countless frozen rice paddies to reach his uncle’s estate. Outside the yangban’s home were herds of fat cows and flocks of clucking chickens. Heungbu straightened his shoulders then knocked on the main gate. A servant in royal blue answered.…

IN A TIME long past, when the world was young and legendary creatures still walked the land, there was a girl named Kiyo, the daughter of the emperor. Every morning, as soon as the sun had risen, Kiyo would go strolling in the palace woods, singing to the flowers and breathing in the fresh scent of morning dew on the grass. Among the animals, she had many friends, including a bushy-tailed tanuki named Ringo and a red-crowned crane named Nami. Whenever Kiyo needed someone to talk to, Nami listened, her eyes peaceful and wise, while Ringo pretended to listen, though he was actually picking Kiyo’s pockets for apple slices. One day, after her walk, Kiyo came to her father at breakfast with confusion on her face. “Father,” she said. “Why…

“PAPA, PLEASE,” AKEISHA begged. “I just want to see the stars one time. One chance to get above the eversmog.” She knew she was pushing her luck. If her mother were still alive, maybe things might’ve been different, but that was like wishing for clean, unfiltered air. Some things were just never going to be. Papa slammed the sanitizer’s lid down harder than he should. “I’ve told you no. Your nana should never have suggested it. She knows how I feel about the rooftops. You fall off a skyspear, sure and you’re going to paint the ground.” He glared over Akeisha’s head to where Nana stood near the front entry, her uniform jacket dangling from one hand. “She’s twelve,” Papa went on. “Just a kid. She should be thinking about…

This Cricket is filled with magic, and especially the magic of the holiday season. Thoko reveres her family’s traditions as they celebrate Christmas together in Zambia. Akeisha enjoys a peaceful, magical moment one clear night when she views the stars on the roof of her skyspear and finds a constellation foretelling her future glowing in her palm. And, like magic, the fighting stopped for one Christmas Day during World War I as enemy soldiers declared a peaceful truce. For this Cricket contest, everybuggy wants to read your best poem capturing the magic of the holiday season. You might write about how the holidays bring your family together to celebrate well-loved traditions, whether at Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Divali. Or you might be inspired to write about…

LONG, LONG AGO on the edge of the lonely Siberian taiga, there lived a man and wife who yearned for a child. One spring there came a vicious storm. Snow and ice lashed their snug little cabin. As the chimney chuffed out smoke, the woman huddled by an empty cradle on the hearth and cried to her husband, “If I cannot have a child to love, surely my heart will crumble like a dry crust of bread.” “Let us go to bed with hope, dear wife. You never know what dawn may bring.” In the morning light, the small meadow round the cabin glistened in the cold sun. The husband trudged through the woods to a nearby pond and settled on his stool to fish through the ice. When he…

Scientists have run many tests on pigeons, trying to figure out how they find their way home—but it remains a bit of a mystery. Researchers have tried blindfolding the birds, blocking their noses, attaching magnets to them, and plugging their ears—but the birds almost always get home, if a bit more slowly. To some, this suggests that pigeons have many tools for navigating, and use a mix. The simplest is probably just sight. Pigeons have a great visual memory, and from above they can read a landscape like a map. They also have a keen sense of smell—if the wind is right, they can just follow their noses home. Pigeon beaks also have pockets of iron that may act like a built-in magnetic compass. The birds probably don’t use their…