Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Rating: Not for me (older versions), Needs Parent Supervision (2022 version edited by Stacey Lee).

Reading Level: Early Elementary
I wanted to read The Cricket in Times Square because it is an old classic and our children’s librarian recommended it to us. The story is overall quite lovely about a cricket who helps a family in a NY subway by playing beautiful music. Although there are some sweet themes about love, sacrifice, loyalty, the fleeting and unfulfilling nature of fame, I would not let original versions of this book live in my home. 

**Update! Some of the concerns listed below do *not* appear in the later editions of the book. Based on a forward by Stacey Lee in the 2022 edition, it sounds like the book was updated to address “stereotypes.” Smoking, the Eastern religion references, and legends about crickets were removed as well. For this reason, I recommend the updated version, although Mr. Fong is deeply adjusted from the original, and that brings other concerns.

The MacMillan Audiobook (copyright 2008, read by Tony Shaloub) has the pagan references described below.

Concerns:

• Idol statues of Eastern Gods. In older versions of the book, statues of goddesses smile at the main character, and he comments that it looks like they know a secret. He has trouble looking away. In the audiobook, this in Chapter 6, at minute 44. See image below.

• Luck. As with many kids stories, there is mention of luck in a few places.  
• Pagan alternative to the Creation account. A major chunk of chapter 6 is a Chinese storekeeper telling a legend about how crickets began. He says crickets weren’t around initially but there was a man who knew all truth & spoke the truth & pleased the gods. When evil men didn’t like what he had to say, they planned to hurt him; the gods spared him by turning him into a cricket. Elsewhere, there is mention of “nature” giving the cricket his chirp, and I prefer to attribute that to the creator God.
• Illustration of a shop with eastern gods. This is in both old and new versions: an illustration that has the boy in a shop that has a few Buddha statues.
• Kid safety. The boy travels to Chinatown by himself.
• Smoking. In older versions, Mr. Fong smokes a pipe. In newer versions, this section has been omitted.

There are some good themes:

• Fame does not satisfy. The cricket longs for home & gives up his burgeoning fame to return to the country.
• Sacrificial love. The boy shows true (sacrificial) love when he supports the cricket leaving even when he prefers he stay.

I might check it out from the library and read it out loud to my kiddos & sensor the parts mentioned above (in Chapter 6 of the old versions). The rest of the book provides good opportunities to talk about what fulfills us and what true love looks like.