the cricket in times square. george selden.

the cricket in times square has been on my to-read list ever since i saw it a stack of books when subbing.  a cricket in new york, i was intrigued!  i found it at goodwill but it sat on my bookshelf until my most recent trip to new york.

as you can see in my photo, the cricket in times square inspired me to take photos of books at the setting of the story.  as you can see, i took a photo of the cricket in times square in times square.  you can see the other pics on my fb or on instagram @booksandlandmarks.

the plan was to have the cricket in times square as my #literarythrowback on the thursday of my trip and to also read it while in nyc.  unfortunately the later did not happen, but i decided to buckle down and read it my first weekend back from nyc.

what a delightful little book.  it is the story of a cricket, chester, that accidentally traveled to new york city by way of picnic basket.  mario, whose family owned a newspaper stand in the subway, found chester due to his chirping and decided to keep him as a pet, despite his mother's disapproval.  chester's new home is the newspaper stand the family runs.  living in the station, chester was befriended by a mouse, tucker, and a cat, harry.  chester was surprised to discover that they were friends since cats from the country normally eat mice. 

mario read that crickets are good luck, though at first, chester does not appear to be.  first while napping, chester dreamt that he was eating a leaf only to discover that he was eating money.  he ate two dollars, mario's mother was outraged and wanted to get rid of chester.  however, tucker helped chester out by giving him the money he had saved up.  tucker was wealthy because he picked up coins that people dropped in the station.  everything was going well, until chester, harry, and tucker had a party in the newspaper stand.  chester played music with his legs (it's the legs that crickets play right?  not their wings) and tucker danced around which unfortunately caused him to start the fire.  luckily, a train conductor put it out the fire before the stand burned down though some newspapers and magazines were destroyed.     

mama, upset by the fire, wanted mario to get rid of chester.  however, chester played a beautiful opera, which coincidentally was mama's favorite.  mama then forgave chester.  chester than began to practice and learn new songs from the radio.  one day, mario's family decided to show their friend/customer, mr. smedley, a musical teacher, chester's talent.  mr. smedley then wrote to the new york times about the talented cricket. and as they say in the biz, a star was born.  chester soon had a huge following, the subway station was packed during his performances.  his popularity also helped the family sell newspapers and magazines. everything was great at first but then like any celebrity, chester got over it quickly. chester then decided to run away back to connecticut, tired of his life of fame.  harry and tucker help him over to penn station to get home.  chester did not say farewell to mario but took his bell which let mario know he had left.  it was sad but mario also know that chester was tired of the fame.

this work was adorable and a very cute read.  though i must add it was a tad racist (not that it bothered me.) since crickets are revered in chinese culture, mario went to chinatown to find a cage for chester.  there he met sai fong, the owner of a store.  sai fong's dialogue, though accurate, was written in a chinese dialect, aka without r's being pronounced.  i mean i found it quite comical and fairly true, but i can imagine others being offend about it.  i didn't google anything but i can imagine.  though i will say that sai fong absolutely adored mario and chester, and i loved how he held a mini feast for the two of them, so it wasn't that offense.  though maybe their love of crickets was too stereotypical.  other than that, a delightful read. and if i had read it before my new york trip, i would have retraced chester, tucker, and harry's ride to penn station from times square.  lol