Crowd-Sorcery is here! Let the fantasy featuring characters created by Cricket readers begin!

Yes! Beginning in this issue is “The Girl Who Writes the Future,” an original fantasy created by Fred Durbin and illustrated by Emily Fiegenschuh featuring characters created on the Chatterbox by Cricket readers. The first part of the story introduces Fable Thatcher, a girl raised by the wizard Roderic and who travels with the Moonlight Faire. The prophecies Fable writes always come true, but she fears the One Prophecy—the mysterious prophecy about herself that has yet to be fulfilled. 

You’ll also enjoy “Resak and the Bear,” a magical legend based on the folk tales of the Ainu, a native people of northern Japan; and “The Tear-Tear Bird,” a Pawnee creation myth. 

“Time of Proving” by Tamora Pierce will intrigue you as Arimu of the Wind People rescues a Tenth Rank Scholar of the bull people, who is educated in music and poetry but knows little about the practical task of surviving. And you’ll laugh at  “The Trouble with Whiskers,” the true history of a man who was put in jail for wearing a beard.

There’s fantasy, holiday spirit, and more . . . in this month’s Cricket!