In a subway station in Times Square, there is a newsstand owned by the Bellini family. They do not sell many papers and the young son, Mario, must work late at night hoping for customers. In the station there also lives a cat, Harry and a mouse Tucker, who seem to do very well for themselves scrounging leftovers from the New York trash.
One night a cricket arrives, finally freed after being trapped in a picnic basket all the way back in Connecticut. He is quickly befriended by the animals in the station and by Mario. While Mario’s mother puts up a fuss against the “cricketer” at first, she is persuaded to allow Mario to keep him as a pet.
Mario knows that the Chinese are fond of crickets and he makes a trip to Chinatown to find it a house. His trip is quite unfortunately an exercise in racism as Seldon chooses to write the speech of Chinese characters with a funny accent “velly” for “very” and “clicket” for “cricket.” The Chinese man is also described as “sly” and a pair of Chinese men bow continuously. While I do appreciate the trip to another part of the city, it is a huge disappointment to see racial stereotypes and dialects in this book.
Although I read this as a child, it didn’t really stick with me and now I can see why. There are long descriptive sections and while there are small bursts of action, the story really sort of drags on until the cricket turns out to be a virtuoso and starts playing all sorts of music rather than simply chirping. Sadly, the song names won’t ring any bells for readers, which will make his grand concerts less interesting to modern readers.
The climax of the book occurs when the cricket is giving grand concerts to people in the subway. This is sort of a fascinating idea, that subway listeners will stop and listen. I am curious as to whether the novelty of a cricket would capture the attention of even jaded New Yorkers. A few years ago an experiment was conducted by the Washington Post in which an incredibly talented (as in can sell out Boston’s Symphony Hall talented) violinist played his violin (naturally, one made by Stradivari and worth upwards of $3 million) while Washington commuters largely ignored him. (Seriously, you must read about it and see it here if you have not)
Other than the racism, there’s nothing objectionable here although the reading level far outstrips the interest level. I would imagine mild stories from the animals’ perspectives would do better with a younger crowd, but would also think that this would be on level for a strong third grade / typical fourth grade reader (Scholastic Marks it at DRA 40).
Racial stereotyping/Racism – the man in Chinatown is wearing an outfit embroidered with red dragons. He looks “sly”. Speech is racist – “velly,” “clicket” (see pages 43-51). While Harry Cat likes Chinese food, the mouse calls Chinese dishes “funny” and worries that maybe they eat mice. Another Chinese man has a long grey beard. They bow continuously. They tell Mario he makes a “velly good Chinaman”
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – In Chinatown, Mario is told a tale about a wise man who other men plot to kill. Mama Bellini throws a magazine at Tucker mouse and hits him. There is a fire.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Papa Bellini smokes a pipe, for some reason, this pipe is illustrated quite frequently. A man in Chinatown smokes a pipe.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
As a former teacher myself, I’m super excited to find this blog. I’ve considered doing something similar myself, never knowing about this one even though I’ve searched for it before. But as a stay at home mom, I never seem to find the time to read like I wish I could. But having an extremely avid reader as a child, I will definitely be bookmarking your blog and checking it often. I just had to comment on this book because I hate it so much. As an Asian American, the racism in this book is appalling. You mentioned how they bow continuously. Oh my gosh!!! How dumb does the author think we are? Are we the three stooges? One thing you didn’t mention is how the Chinese men are said to be wearing Kimono’s, which are Japanese. The author did no research what so ever on Asian culture and wrote us as completely absurd cartoon characters. The worst thing about this book is that because of it’s acclaim, it’s still being taught in schools. At my school, it was taught by an older teacher who did not see the racism of the book. UGH. But thank you for informing parents who don’t have the time to read everything our children do.
Ms. C – It is SO much harder to keep up now that I’m home with my son, I feel you on that! I try to use naps to get at least some reading done, but I know at some point he’ll stop napping and then I’ll really be in trouble.
I must have missed the mention of the kimonos, thanks for pointing that one out.
I agree it is terribly frustrating to see books with racism or stereotypes like this being taught, especially because they are usually taught by people who also aren’t addressing that aspect of the book at all. The Indian in the Cupboard is another one that still gets taught all the time.
I’m glad you found me! If you ever have a specific request regarding a title or genre, I periodically have Reader’s Choice posts and you can ask in the comments section!