Nicholas Cricket

This is one of the early William Joyce books, not as well known as his later titles. Joyce is the illustrator and author of many wonderful childrens books including: Santa Calls, Dinosaur Bob, George Shrinks, Rolie Polie Olie, A Day With Wilbur Robinson, The Leaf men, and more. In this book we meet Nicholas Cricket, a musician in the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band. Classic art deco and 1940's styles blend with his anthropomorphic books to charm you with its dream like sequences. Ladybugs, turtles, and grasshoppers dance the night away in a forest nightclub. Maxners words really come alive with Joyce's illustrations. I think this is the last book he illustrated for another author, and took over writing his own text after this. The 1989 hardcover is quite rare now, and hard to find in any condition due to its small print run. The book was published before any of the titles I listed above, and is a real treat for Joyce fans.

This is a tale about a cricket and his band. They play beautiful music for all of the animals that come to the lake. The name of the band is the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band. Their favorite place to play is at the Little Lake and the Little Stream. This story is mainly about how soft and beautiful their bands music sounds and how it gets all of the animals to dance and have a good time. It is a good book if you would like to read it.Josh V.

I have to say that I have enjoyed Nicholas Cricket from the very first time I read it to my daughter 9 years ago. I play the banjo myself and have always been fond of "bugs". I find the illustrations to be marvelous and evoke a joyful jazz age when banjos were hot and zoot-suits were cool! The text is lyrical and very enjoyable to read aloud. I have recommended Nicholas Cricket to all my friends and to both public and school libraries. It is a great book.

This book is full of beautiful, rich illustrations. I enjoy it just as much as my 2.5 yr old who insisted we read it every night for a month!