Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2023 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

Look at those cicadas! Have you ever seen so many? Is there one good thing to say about them? I can’t think of any. Even entomologists may be of this persuasion: When cicadas start to hatch, it’s like an alien invasion. Is there nothing to be said about cicadas that is good? Excuse me? What’s that sound? A million chainsaws cutting wood? Unlike a bee, unlike a bird, they do not hum or tweet. Cicadas’ song is NOISY and the opposite of sweet. Is there nothing to be said about cicadas that is kind? These bug-eyed little insects aren’t the cutest that you’ll find. Look! Their molted skins stay stuck to windows, walls, and trees. A million exoskeletons—a gruesome sight to see. Contemplate my question. Think it over once or…

Across 1. Twenty-one-gun ___3. Parade routes run along city6. “Oh, say can you ___”9. Relative (abbreviation)10. Loveliness12. In, on, or near a place14. A time before15. July weather16. Majorette: baton ___18. “As American as apple ___” 19. ___ and flow of the tide22. Short for district attorney24. Procession with marching bands and floats25. Neither’s companion27. “With liberty and justice for ___”29. Makes a big boom when fired on the Fourth30. “The ___ Hymn of the Republic” Down 1. Fifty of these appear on the U.S. flag2. How you pronounce the letter s3. To exist or live4. Corn on the ___5. Lindbergh’s plane: The ___ of St. Louis7. Old Glory8. Et cetera (abbreviation)11. Land of the free13. Small child17. ___, white, and blue 18. Festive meal in the park20. Firecracker sound21.…

I STARED AT myself in the mirror: blue tights, yellow vest, an aquamarine fish tail trailing behind me, and large googly eyes sitting atop my head. I raised my eyebrows quizzically at my mom. “Really, Mom?” I said. “Is this what they wanted?” “I’m sure I followed the pattern exactly,” Mom said. “The costume designer was very specific.” “But I thought it would be a little more . . . fish-like.” “Maybe the makeup will add something,” Mom said hopefully. I sighed and looked back at the mirror. Somehow Mom had convinced me to do a play this summer. So here I was about to play the Fish Footman in the local community theater production of Alice in Wonderland. I can’t say it’s been the time of my life. “Well,…

AT A NEIGHBOR’S pool the summer after sixth grade, Charley yelled those famous last words, “Hey, watch this!” As he dove into the pool, Tad froze. It wasn’t the deep end! Charley was hurt bad when he hit the concrete bottom of the swimming pool. The paramedic said he might have broken his back and could lose the use of his legs. His life would change forever. Tad didn’t see Charley for over a month after he was carried away in the screaming ambulance. When Tad went to visit Charley in the hospital, his “Hey, dude, how’s it going?” was greeted by a grunt. Looking small and pale, Charley growled, “I can’t walk—how do you think I feel? I wish I was dead!” “Bro, you’ll get well! You’re tough.” “No,…

YOU’RE FINALLY ON summer vacation! Under a blue sky you’re cruising down the wooded road near your grandmother’s beach cottage on your new 27-speed mountain bike. A warm, humid breeze flutters through your T-shirt as your legs pump with all the pent-up energy from sitting at your school desk last year. Unfortunately, you’re not pedaling fast enough to outpace a female deer fly as it homes in on you from the rear. That deer fly can fly up to ninety miles per hour, and it’s hungry. Ouch! You’ve been bitten! The fiery pain makes you want to scream. You barely steer around a pothole as you flap one hand behind you, slapping frantically at your attacker. Yes, you’ve been targeted by one of the ferocious, carnivorous, I-want-to-drink-your-blood species in the…

Thirteen-year-old Caroline Pickersgill sat beside her mother making dainty stitches on a flag. Even when her needle pricked her finger, she still pressed it in and out of the bunting as her mother, Mary, and grandmother, Rebecca Young, had taught her. The red brick house at 60 Albemarle Street near the waterfront in Baltimore was the home of three makers of “colors,” the name given to flags at that time. Caroline loved to sew. She couldn’t remember when she’d first held a needle, but she could remember sitting in her little rocker, stitching strips of bunting together for practice. All the while her grandmother told her stories of flags she’d made: “I’ll never forget the day General Washington himself came to ask me to sew a flag for the soldiers…

COOL DOWN THIS summer with these creamy, fruity ice-cream blocks. They’re fun and easy to make and taste super delicious! What You’ll Need: 1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste, especially for lemons or sour cherries)1 cup warm water1 cup heavy creamFresh fruit, such as: 1/2 large peeled mango1 quart raspberries, strawberries, or pitted cherries4 peeled oranges or large lemons, seeded6 small pitted peaches, apricots, or plums5 cups diced watermelon or cantaloupe3 ice cube traysblender or food processorPopsicle sticks (optional) What to Do: 1. Mix sugar and water together until sugar is completely dissolved. 2. Add cream and fruit. 3. Mix in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. 4. Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Enjoy your ice-cream blocks in a bowl (it’s fun to…

Fourteen-year-old Hendrik is a messenger boy for the East India trading company. He longs to travel to the far reaches of the earth as a captain’s artist, sketching exotic creatures that no other person has set eyes on. One day he delivers a mysterious parcel to the draper Mynheer Leeuwenhoek, a cloth merchant in the city of Delft in Holland. “Ah, the whale’s eye!” exclaims Mynheer Leeuwenhoek. “I’ve been looking forward to dissecting—” He suddenly spies a drawing that has fallen from Hendrik’s pocket and examines it with great interest. “You’re an artist. You’re just the person I need,” he says. Hendrik finds himself inside Mynheer Leeuwenhoek’s shop, peering at a louse through a magnifying glass. As he examines the monster with its coat of armor and frightening pincers, his…