September 2011

Whether you shout Yay! or Nay! to going back to school, in this issue of Cricket you’ll read about some kids who overcome great odds in their longing for learning. In a new serial, “A Temple Built by Philosophy,” Claudia meets one of the greatest philosophers and poets in ancient Rome, and receives an opportunity that is rare for girls in Roman families--a chance to learn to read. In “The Circuit,” based on the life of the author, a young boy in a family of migrant workers meets a dedicated teacher as he struggles to go to school while moving from town to town. In “The Forbidden Dots,” Louis Braille, blinded as a boy, overcomes ignorance and prejudice to develop a system of writing that enables blind people finally to not only read but write.

If you like codes and buried treasure, you’ll love “Secret Writing” and “Rags and Riches,” in which a Southern girl hunts for buried Civil War silver--if only she and Gram can discover the secret clue great-grandma left behind. And in Cricket Country the bugs bury a treasure of their own—and make up a code to hide it that’s so supersecret that nobuggy can crack it. But is that a good thing? (We can’t tell you. It’s a secret.)

Cricket League

  • Poetry Contest: Pleasant Moments

    This month, everybuggy wants to see your poems about a moment or place that is sweet--peaceful and pleasant--for you (Entries due April 25)