the cricket in times square by george selden

This book speaks to us on so many levels. All of them living in a nook at a newspaper stand in Times Square. There is no better teacher than George Selden.Ī cat, a mouse, and a cricket. As an author who previously wrote for adults, I had to learn how to capture the special voice-on-the-wind style that speaks so well for children. You have just felt in your own fingers a little bit of magic. Turn to the end of the book (if you have read it before!), and type out the last few paragraphs. Feel the light quickness of the sentences. Type out the first few paragraphs of A Cricket in Times Square as you read them. If you are, or aspire to be, a writer, try this exercise: 1. If you are not a writer, skip this paragraph. His storytelling blends the marvelous with the commonplace realities of life, and it was essential to him that his animal characters display true emotions and feelings.Īll of us writers have so much to learn from this book. Selden wrote more than fifteen books, as well as two plays. In 1973, The Cricket in Times Square was made into an animated film. An author is very thankful for minutes like those, although they happen all too infrequently.' The popular Cricket series grew to seven titles, including Tucker's Countryside and The Old Meadow. The story formed in my mind within minutes. 'One night I was coming home on the subway, and I did hear a cricket chirp in the Times Square subway station. People often asked Selden how he got the idea for The Cricket in Times Square.

He spent three summer sessions at Columbia University and, after college, studied for a year in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship. from Yale, where he was a member of the Elizabethan Club and contributed to the literary magazine. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Selden received his B.A. George Selden (1929-1989) was the author of The Cricket in Times Square, winner of the 1961 Newbery Honor and a timeless children's classic.

The cricket in times square by george selden