Books published by publisher Cricket Books

This groundbreaking bilingual anthology, carefully designed for middle readers, is a mosaic of voices demonstrating the energy, creativity, and diversity of the fastest-growing minority group in America. Wachale! (Spanglish for “watch out!”) includes folk tales, stories, and poems in both English and Spanish, and brief autobiographical essays by both well-established and emerging writers representing all shades of Latinos, such as Chicanos in the Southwest, Puerto Ricans in New York, and Cubans in Florida, as well as Dominicans, Guatemalans, and other subgroups. Geared toward ten- to thirteen-year-olds, this is a window to Latino experiences north of the Rio Grande.

Flip Schulke has photographed Elvis Presley, Mohammed Ali, Martin Luther King, Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, and the early astronauts of the American space program. He has shot film underwater with Jacques Cousteau, and in the path of racecars. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Schulke?s images stunned American magazine readers, helping to change public opinion and influence the course of history. In this heartfelt and revealing profile, Schulke recounts how he built a career out of his passion for documenting social change.

Sometimes a book is more than a book—it is a way for readers to meet an extraordinary person and discover an exceptional life. Winfred Rembert grew up in the 1950s in rural Georgia as the child of sharecroppers. Now, in his own voice and through his powerful paintings, he shares with young people his story and his passionate commitment to self-improvement. Reminiscent of the work of Jacob Lawrence and Horace Pippin, the paintings’ rich, deep colors and poignant details powerfully narrate a story of personal courage and exceptional talent. At the same time, Rembert shows how the civil rights movement was not just a matter of famous speeches and marches, but was a product of the bonds of the black community and the unbreakable spirit of individuals who would not allow any threat, chain, or jail to hold them back. Color photos and illustrations add to this inspiring memoir of a self-taught African American artist in the segregated South.

Hoping to escape her evil, doughy foster father, Emma Drinkwater sneaks into Kokonino County, the human-free home of the New Muses. She quickly finds herself embroiled in the Great Pie War launched by Kokopelli, flute-playing Muse of Tunes and Tricks, against Urania, the high-minded Muse of Astronomy. The stakes are high: Mr. Drinkwater is holding Emma's teacher hostage in the cellar while he attempts to decode a secret message involving Emma's real parents. The Muses could help, but not while they're distracted by flying pies, which are rapidly escalating from Smart Pies to Smarter Pies to SMARTEST PIES — state-of-the-art, satellite-guided pies hurtling through the air, zeroing in with greater and greater accuracy as the Great Pie War crumbles to a messy conclusion. Gonick's alternate universe is crammed with off-the-wall characters and sly, smart humor, along with plenty of spot illustrations to help reluctant young readers make the transition from graphic novels to narrative fiction.

A year ago, Tanya Zeshonski was living in Wisconsin, interning at the public television station, and eating Polish food on the holidays. Then her mother divorced her father, reclaimed her maiden name of MacDonald, and moved to North Carolina to submerge them all in their Scottish heritage. So now, at 15, Tanya is the oldest beginning student at the Flora MacDonald School of Highland Dance. Instead of pursuing her dream of being a filmmaker, she’s learning the Highland Fling, one of the national dances of Scotland. Learning it means a lot to her mother, though, so Tanya resigns herself to practicing for the biggest event of the summer, the Cross Creek Highland Games. At the games, Tanya must face not only the intricacies of the dance, but the complications brought on by a handsome bagpiper named Miguel, a ghostly ancestor, and the arrival of her father. Tanya’s sharp, funny voice rings true as she describes the delicate steps of the dance and the beginning of her new life.

Clements, Maddox, Koufax, Gibson? who is baseball's greatest pitcher? All across America, in school cafeterias, on ball-fields, in front of TVs, and while clicking digital games, fans battle over eras and strike outs, winning percentages and perfect games. Finally here is the book that will --- give them more fuel for their debates. At the same time it teaches how to make historical comparisons, and shows how the game has changed over the years. Journalist and sportswriter Jeff Kisseloff gives readers the facts on 37 of baseball's best, along with an introduction that discusses the importance of control, balls & strikes, the mound, delivery, the zone, the baseball, types of pitchers, relief pitchers, and the designated hitter. Statistics are given for each pitcher's record, including Won/Lost, complete games, innings pitched, strikeouts vs. bats on balls, hits & runs, shutouts, MVPs and Cy Young awards.

**Published by Cricket House Books ISBN 9781625009944** “The Call of the Wild” was written by the American novelist Jack London and published in 1903. The story is set in the Canadian Yukon territory during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. The main character of the novel is a dog named Buck who is sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. The book has been adapted many times, most recently being the 2020 film starring Harrison Ford.

?Los Angeles! City of tanned shoulders! Smog-spewing, pay-per-viewing, sit-com maker for the world!?Del?s put in 17 years there, bouncing among foster homes. Smart, sharp-tongued, a master mimic, she?s fed up with her world and with being Del. So she?s faked her own death and is leaving both herself and L.A. behind?until her escape lands her in an all-day traffic jam.Fast-forward eight years. It?s opening night for the one-woman play she?s written and is starring in?a show called Breakout, about a Los Angeles traffic jam. Wildly funny, she seems to be skewering workaholics, road ragers, pickup artists, and car culture in general. But readers will see what her audience can?t?that the show is a portrait of herself, of her hunger for her mother and her terror of rejection, her free-floating identity and yearning for connection.Flashing between Del?s present and future, Breakout gives us a backstage pass into a young playwright?s psyche, letting us watch her life being transformed into a art, heartache into comedy, solitude into community, and anger gradually giving way to acceptance.