Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2021 i Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

“Springtime Along the Seine” cut paper construction I am an artist living and working in my home studio in West Hartford, Connecticut. But sometimes I also work in other places, including Paris. It is my favorite city in the world, so I was very excited to get to do this cover for Cricket. I hope I have captured the sense of life on the streets that happens there, especially in the spring. Paris is urban but warm and friendly, and gray and colorful at the same time. Creating this artwork makes me hopeful that we can all travel again soon and gather at the corner café, whether it be in Paris or in our own hometown!…

The parrot fish is not a birdIt cannot fly. ’Twould be absurdTo say it could. It cannot speakBut still, its mouth is like a beak Its beak is formed from bony jawThe strangest mouth you ever sawIt chews on coral close at handAnd when it’s done, it poops out sand It keeps the coral algae-freeAnd lives thus symbioticallyThe coral thrives; the fish gets fatSo both can benefit from that At night he makes a sleeping bagOf slimy slime that doesn’t sagInside his sack he’s safe and soundFrom predators that swim around His scales are bright as feathers rareBut parrot fish can’t fly through airA different name might be preferredSince this sea parrot’s not a bird Note The brightly colored parrot fish helps keep coral reefs healthy by eating excess algae…

Sometimes a tale is told so often, it becomes almost as good as the truth. One such tale, repeated for more than two centuries, involved a frivolous, self-centered queen who asked why her subjects were rioting. Famine, she was told. The price of flour was so high, people couldn’t afford to bake bread. “If they cannot eat bread, let them eat cake,” was the queen’s legendary reply. The speaker in the story was Marie Antoinette, queen of France. The phrase “Let them eat cake” helped fire a revolution that left thousands dead, the nation in turmoil, the monarchy destroyed, and Marie herself beheaded. But there’s a problem with this story. It isn’t true. Marie Antoinette never made that infamous comment. She never asked about the riots and she never said…

Katerina, a Russian landowner’s daughter, falls in love with Phenist the Bright Falcon, a man cursed to roam the world by day as a falcon, returning to his manly form only after dark, until he finds a maiden willing to love him despite his accursed state. Betrayed by her sisters’ jealousy, Katerina loses Phenist and must endure a long and dangerous journey to reclaim her lost love. Through the wise advice of three Baba Yagas, Katerina finds Phenist, only to be thwarted in her plans by the cunning daughter of the evil czar, who has drugged the prince with a sleeping potion. Will Katerina ever be able to overcome the barriers set against her by her betrayers? THE NEXT MORNING, Katerina took her silver dish and golden egg from her…

“Desperta’t, Jordi! Wake up!” Father’s voice calls in Catalan from the hallway, and I sit up quickly. Today is the day! The day that I will finally be a casteller—a castle builder. I quickly pull on my white knee-length pants and bright red shirt, the uniform for our team. Mama has pamboli ready for breakfast. “Hurry and eat, Jordi,” Magdalena says as I grab a piece of the bread with olive oil. My sister is only five, and even though she sounds bossy, I know she’s just very excited. Today is her first casteller competition, also. “I will,” I tell her, chewing as fast as I can. Rafel, who is eight, tucks his drumsticks under his arm as he pours some juice. He raises his glass as if in a…

IT WAS A lovely spring day, and James Phipps’s father needed help with the weeding. Father was no ordinary gardener. His employer, Dr. Edward Jenner, was known throughout the region of Gloucestershire, England, not only for his skill as a physician but also for his expansive gardens. James and his family lived in a cottage near the Chantry, Dr. Jenner’s large stone house. Father tended the usual lavender and primrose blossoms, and the rosebushes along the walls of the Chantry, but he also cultivated Dr. Jenner’s greenhouse. The greenhouse, warmed by fires in the winter, boasted orange trees, sweet grapes from France, and the only pineapples in the county. James liked to gaze at the rare plants, and often wondered how an orange would taste. The fruits were saved for…

“YOU READY?” Marah checked her air gauge and the seal of her goggles, then reviewed again the safety procedures should anything happen while underwater. Oxygen first: pull up the line and clear the mouthpiece with a burst of air. Goggles next: press the top to her forehead and blow to clear out the water. Check gauge. Always be mindful of how much oxygen is left in the tank. “All set, Mr. Jay,” Marah answered. She smiled at the five other students waiting their turn to take the practice dive. “Got your nose guard?” Brock teased. He sat next to her and nudged her with his elbow. She rolled her eyes. “You’re the only one who needs that.” Five years together on the swim team, and he still teased her about…

Flames shot up from Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris in April 2019. Its elegant spire toppled and fell. Viewers around the world watched horrified at the replays on television One lady in a retirement residence in the United States felt very sad. As a girl she and her brother had walked near Notre Dame every day during the year they lived in Paris with their French grandmother. Her apartment was on the small island behind Notre Dame called the Île Saint-Louis.  One afternoon on the way home from school, something unusual happened. “That was quite a story Monsieur Jacques told us about putting his hat on a gargoyle when he was our age,” said Louis. Monsieur Jacques was what the French call a concierge, the doorkeeper and manager of their…