Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

One sizzlin’ day in the town of Dusty Gulch, Zeb’s ma sent him to the railway station to fetch the pigs Aunt Minnie had sent to her. Zeb found those short-legged critters in a crate in the station yard. Knowin’ that he had to walk those pigs home, he pried the crate open and let the pigs out. The sun burned down something fierce. Those pigs took two steps then sprawled out on the ground like they intended to stay put forever. Heat rose around them in waves. Zeb didn’t know nothin’ about pigs but he knew horses, so he swung his hat at them short, pink critters and yelled, “Yah! Get along! Move!” The three piglets stirred a bit, but the sow lay still as a cactus. Zeb stomped…

First prize 10 and under Angie Zhu, age 7 Potomac, MD At My Library Snuggling in my warm blanket, at my library in the hall, I imagine . . . Traveling back in time. I see Athena handing Artemis a magic lime, Nemesis making revenge for her broken knee, and Dionysus showing Poseidon how powerful wine could be. Flying into fairylands, I see Tinkerbell drawing with her crayons, Snow White prancing with the seven little dwarfs, and Belle putting on her golden scarf. I smile, nod, and say hello to them all, while drifting in the warm hall filled with books I got this fall. First prize 11 and up Lucy Kershen, age 13 Norman, OK The Faerie’s Library If you walk until the sun shines gold And colored leaves…

Dear Everybuggy, I loveeeeeeee your mag! It’s so inspiring and creative! One of my favorite things in the world is drawing. I draw every day! During quarantine I opened an online shop where I sell my art. I think you should make more art contests, ’cause they bring joy! I’m homeschooled and I love to read. Some of my favorite books are City Spies by James Ponti, Smoke and Mirrors by K. D. Halbrook, and Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley. Daniela, age 13 San Juan, Puerto Rico Hello, Everybody! Let us begin with important dates! February 1 National Freedom Day, 2 Groundhog Day, 4 Thank a Mail Carrier Day, 9 National Pizza Day, 12 Chinese New Year and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, 14 Valentine’s Day, 15 Presidents’ Day, 17 Random Acts…

Max Tut is the youngest person ever to take the pilot’s test on Silar Three, but she has always lived in the shadow of her brilliant older sister, Sera, who insists on calling her Max-ine. Even when Max won first prize in a fifth-grade science fair, all the judges asked her about was her famous sister’s research. During her pilot’s test, Max’s robotic shuttlecraft, named Bixby, collides with an asteroid emerging from a wormhole and crash-lands on an uncharted moon. Sera is seriously injured, and to keep her alive until they can return to Silar Three, Max has frozen Sera in a cryotube. Max blames herself for Sera’s injury and imagines her sister’s voice in her head telling her what to do. When Bixby informs Max that power is very…

WHEN YOU TRAVEL, do you pack your favorite snacks to take along with you? If you do, then you’re like any other traveler who has gone from place to place throughout history. In fact, some favorite foods are associated with a place where they developed a fond following, like Boston baked beans, or Philadelphia cheese steak sandwiches, or Mississippi mud pies. Believe it or not, the railroad had its own food, too. Railroad cakes! When railroad tracks were being laid across the country during the nineteenth century—first on the east coast, then on the west—railroad companies weren’t concerned about providing food and restaurants along the way, at least not at first. The railroad companies focused on laying tracks and building trains, instead. Of course, food is on anyone’s mind as…

Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes Sugar works cutting sugarcane. Slavery has just ended. Her parents have died, and almost all her friends have gone North. Luckily, she knows how to find her own fun, especially when she has time to play with her forbidden friend, Billy (the white plantation owner’s son). One day some Chinese men come to help cut the sugarcane. Slavery is over, but white people are still struggling to accept others, including Sugar and the Chinese men. Maggie Xin, age 10 Suffern, New York The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson If you are a Dodgers fan like me (Go, Dodgers!) you will love this book. It’s about an eight-year-old who lives for the Dodgers. The year is 1948, and Stephen Satlow’s favorite baseball player is…

Part 2 The beloved younger daughter of a Russian landowner receives from her father a beautifully lacquered box decorated with an exquisite red rose. Upon opening the box, Katerina discovers a feather and is immediately visited by Phenist the Bright Falcon, who has been cursed to roam the world by day as a bird of prey, returning to his manly form only after dark. PHENIST CAME TO Katerina every night thereafter, sometimes as the sun was setting, sometimes long after dark. Hour after hour, in her little chamber beneath the eaves, they talked. Phenist told of his shining white palace that stood beside the green-blue sea, and of his bounteous kingdom that lay at the back of beyond where the four winds meet. He told her of the greedy czar…

PERHAPS THE GREATEST of all sculptors was Phidias. Born in Athens, Greece, over two thousand years ago, he carved dazzling statues of gold, ivory, and marble. His figure of Olympian Zeus, forty feet high, was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Where can we see his masterpieces? Ah, sorry to say: nowhere. We have only written descriptions. After centuries of fires, floods, wars, and earthquakes, not one is left. Wait—there is one: the Parthenon, noblest of Greek temples. Phidias designed and created most of the magnificent sculptures ornamenting the building. Artists and architects have been marveling at them ever since. We don’t know much about Phidias’s life. But what’s really important is his work. He discovered how to carve robes so that they seemed almost transparent; garments of…