by George Selden (1960)
I feel like I have to confess something. I began the season, continuing my attempt to do things I’ve always meant to by reading Dune. After getting through more than half, I found I was just not into it. Humorless messiah science fiction has never been up my ally but I do feel like I failed some level of nerdom… alas.
But, in an equally nerdy move, I went on to read another classic I missed the first time round, The Cricket in Times Square.
I love to crack open a young adult novel now and then, but this is for even younger audiences, so I’ll probably be reading to Van in a few years. (Now, how to do the Chinese accents without sounding, er, disrespectful…)
The story of a cricket who makes a splash in the subways below Times Square with his musical talents is thoroughly charming and only takes a couple hours to read. The illustrations by Garth Williams are cute and the characters are endearing.
I was even inspired by it to write a couple children’s books myself.
But what do you think?