Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens March 2017

Alison Jay was born in Hertfordshire, England, and grew up in Derbyshire. As a child she always loved drawing and painting, particularly animals, and she still includes animals in her work whenever possible. Alison studied graphic design in London and has been illustrating picture books for over twenty years. She has illustrated classic fairy tales such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, as well as stories by contemporary authors, including Cloth from the Clouds by Michael Catchpool, Listen, Listen by Phillis Gershator, and If Kisses Were Colours by Janet Lawler. She won the Association of Illustrators award for her book Picture This and has been nominated three times for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Alison has recently started to write and illustrate her…

Dear Everybuggy, I love your magazine so much! Once, I was looking through old magazines and found one of your very first Cricket mags. I found two more. I loved them so much I got a subscription. Pussywillow is my favorite buggy. But I love everybuggy! (Yes, even Ugly Bird.) My favorite story was “The Girl Who Writes the Future” (November/December 2014–May/June 2015). I play the violin, Irish dance, and love to draw. My favorite books are the Percy Jackson series, Heroes of Olympus series, Wonder, and The Hobbit. I also love Star Wars. Thank you for bringing me joy through this magazine! Ruby Petrie, age 11 Newport, Washington Dear Everybuggy, Your magazine is the coolest ever! My grandmother (we’re Norwegian so we call her Bestamor) loves it so much.…

AS I SUCKED in a deep breath and aimed at the circle of candles on my birthday cake, I added one more wish to the two others I knew wouldn’t come true. None of the gifts on the table was the right size for the video game I wanted. Dad was stranded in Chicago by a gigantic blizzard that had closed all the airports. Why not go 0 for 3? Whoosh! Mom and Ethan clapped, like blowing out twelve candles was some major achievement. Just a puff of air when a snowstorm was howling outside. “The cake you made looks delicious, Alex,” Mom said. I shrugged. “Baking’s easy with a mix.” “And I helped!” Ethan said. “I poked it with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake…

PERCY PLUMB LOVED horses. He loved cowboy boots and red bandannas and he especially loved stories about the Old West and wranglers named Dusty and Smokey Joe. Percy had always wanted to be a cowboy. Instead, he was a librarian. Every morning he put on his polka-dot bow tie and spectacles, picked up his briefcase and umbrella, and drove his little gray sedan to the Mayfair Public Library on Azalea Street. Here he spent his days amid hushed voices and books when what he really wanted was to be out West riding the range. It wasn’t that Percy didn’t love books, for he surely did. He thought the smell of books very pleasant, and it pleased his eye to see them lined neatly on the shelves in a rainbow of…

IN THE MIDDLE of a moonlit night, a young mare gives birth to a foal in the stable of a medieval castle. The mare is deep burgundy in color, and so is her foal, though he has a long, white blaze down his forehead. After only a few minutes the colt struggles to his wobbly legs and begins to nurse. His mother’s milk gives him strength after the struggle of birth while assuring him of a strong immune system for years to come. For the first week the mare and her offspring are kept safely within the confines of the stable. This is to ensure that the colt, now named Rollo by the lord of the castle, is strong and healthy enough to be turned out with the other foals,…

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby Solveig is a Viking princess. In her family, however, she was always the plain, quiet daughter. Her beautiful older sister and brash heir little brother always seemed better than her . . . until war forces them into a tiny fortress with twenty restless warriors to protect them. The winter seems endless, supplies are running low, and there is a traitor—and a pending crisis in their midst. Anna L., age 12 Cranford, New Jersey The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon Archer B. Helmsley wants to be a great explorer like his grandparents, Ralph and Rachel Helmsley. But what happens when his grandparents float out to sea atop an iceberg? Find out in this really good book! Lovely Alpaca, age 9 Portland, Oregon Chains (The Seeds of…