Old Cricket [Paperback]

There are few things I like better in this world than finding a great new read-aloud picture book for my library storytimes. Maybe Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, but that's about it. For me, a book that reads well to large screaming hoards of five-year-olds is worth its weight in gold. I don't know how I missed the publication of "Old Cricket" back in 2003, but I give you my solemn word of honor that it will rarely find itself anywhere but in my finest storytime collection from now on.

On a fine clear morning Old Cricket wakes up on the wrong side of bed. He's feeling particularly cantankerous and his missus tells him in no uncertain terms to fix the roof. "You don't get to be an old cricket by being a dumb bug" the text informs us, so Cricket makes up an imaginary creak in his knee to get out of the job. While en route to the doctor (or so his wife thinks) he meets up with his cousin, Katydid. She asks him to help pick some berries off the bush, but Old Cricket adds a fake crick in his neck to accompany the supposed creak in his knee. You see where this is going. Ants ask him to help them bring in the last of the corn and a crack in his back is the additional malady. It's only when he meets up with Old Crow who wants to eat him that his tricks no longer work ("You don't get to be an old crow by being a birdbrain") and he develops every physical ailment that he invented in the process of running away. In the end, Cricket does visit Doc Hopper (who's name will remind certain members of my generation of the villain in "The Muppet Movie", I'm sure) and is cured. So it's homeward to fix the roof and a happy ending for one and all.

The text reads aloud beautifully with lots of different voices, plenty of "cricks" "creaks" and "cracks" to sound out the text, and a fast-paced chase sequence for those who weren't paying attention at the beginning. Author Lisa Wheeler has slowly been making a name for herself and I look forward to reading other titles of hers like "Sailor Moo". The repetition in this book works beautifully for younger readers and I daresay this would make an excellent storytelling tale sans book if it came to that.

Not that you should forget about the gorgeous pictures accompanying the text. Rendered in acrylic paints, artist Ponder Goembel (who's first name I may well steal for my own child someday) throws her back into this book. Every animal here is rendered realistically with a kind of gently shaded sheen. Leaves sport natural holes and bites, and though every animal (with the exception of the nudist ants) wears clothing in this tale, it never looks unnatural or out of place. Old Cricket, for example, doffs a worn red cap and what looks to be a fisherman's vest when he goes out into the world. I especially enjoyed the little details that appeared here and there. Old Cricket has only one antennae, a fact that becomes crystal clear when he and the missus (also lacking that particular protuberance) pose in a final touching shot. Even if your child is not reading on their own yet, they'll be delightedly poring through this book for hours and hours on end.

I certainly hope that "Old Cricket" won itself a fair share of awards the year it came out. This book needs to be on every reading list in the country for kids below the age of... oh say.... 72. Funny, fine, and frantic, it is the kind of book every author of folktales hopes to write and so few actually do.

This book was absolutely great. My 7 year old thought it was funny and we had a lot of fun in the creak-creak-creak and the crick-crick-cricks. Besides being an entertaining story, the underlying message about excuses and what goes around comes around couldn't be better.

Old Cricket is a delight! Having read Wheeler's other books, this one was another jewel to add to our growing home library. You don't get to be a smart cooky unless you read the best books, and Wheeler knows exactly what we like!

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