This report is based on the book a Cricket in Times Square 

 

The introduction - In the book a Cricket in Times Square, a cricket makes friends with some city inhabitant – a mouse, a cat and a boy.  The cricket, Chester, has to accept the life in city. It is a story about friendship and hardships.  This imaginary tale was written by George Selden and illustrated by Garth Williams and published by Dell publishing in 1960.

 

Setting – This story took place in a subway station in Times Square in New York City.  The station was dirty and noisy with coming and going subway cars all day and night.  People rushed to the subway and trying to go where they were going to go. The Bellinis had a newsstand in this subway station.  They worked very hard but a few people stopped at their stand, so they didn’t sold more and they were very poor.  The newsstand was small with one small room for two or three people to setting.  Inside the stand were all kinds of papers and magazines, a cash register, and a radio for the Bellinis to listen to while they waited for people to buy their papers.  Harry and Tucker’s house was nearby and they could watch all of the people pass. Their house was dirty and full with trash that Tucker collected.  There was also a food stand in the station where people could get hotdogs and drinks.  A man who his name was Mickey worked there.  He had red hair and was Mario’s friend.

 

Characters – There are several main characters in A Cricket in Times Square.  There was Chester Cricket.  He came from Connecticut. Chester came to New York City by accident and at end come in a subway station in Times Square.  There he meets Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse.  Harry and Tucker were best friends.  Harry Cat was a large cat who liked roaming in the city at night.  Tucker Mouse was a round mouse who liked to bum and save everything.  He had a high voice.  Harry and Tucker lived together in a drainpipe in the subway station.  The Bellini family, Mama, Papa, and Mario were also very important in this story.  They were an Italian family who had a newsstand in the subway station.  They were a very poor family but were very close to each other.  Mario went to school and helped at the newsstand on weekends.

 

The body – At the beginning of A Cricket in Times Square Chester Cricket is in his field in Connecticut when he accidentally trapped in a picnic basket.  The picnic basket causes Chester to New York City before he can get out.  He is found by Mario Bellini and he keeps him in the newsstand in a small box.  He meets Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse on the first night that he spends in the newsstand.  They become good friends.  Chester saw that the Bellinis are poor and the newsstand doesn’t sell a lot of papers and magazines.  He finds out that he can help them by playing beautiful music with his wings.  Chester learns different kinds of music that brings people from all over the city to the newsstand to hear him play.  While they listen to the music, the people buy papers from the Bellinis.  Chester, Harry, and Tucker have a lot of adventures.  Once they decided to have a party and they almost burned the newsstand down!  This made Bellinis mad and Chester was almost thrown out of the newsstand for that!

 

The conclusion – My favorite part in a Cricket in Times Square was when Chester Cricket saw Harry Cat for the first time.  Chester had just met Tucker Mouse and sudden he saw a big cat standing above Tucker!  He yelled at Tucker to be careful and then hid under a piece of Kleenex.  He thought Tucker was going to be eaten!  When he look out of the matchbox and saw that Harry and Tucker were really friends was happy that his new friend was okay.  He was also glad to have another new friend.  I liked this part because, I didn’t want Tucker to be eaten, and it made me laugh when I found that Harry and Tucker were friends. The plot is very nice and easy, so I could follow the plot easily of this book. Kindness, cooperation and helping are the main themes of the story. I didn't want to read the book but I had to reed it for get a good grade. When I started to read the first chapter, which was about a Cricket I thought that the book wasn't good for reading but it had amusing stories. Although I didn't want to read it but it wasn't so bad that I expected, and I found it to be enjoyable and I liked this book and I think that everyone should read it!