Product Description

Nicholas Cricket and the other members of the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band lead all the forest creatures in a musical celebration of the night.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1544380 in Books
• Published on: 1991-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

From Publishers Weekly
In PW 's words, "Joyce cleverly evokes the dimly lit speakeasies of Hollywood. Monocled, zoot-suited insects frequent Nick's Cafe where . . . a turtle sports a top hat, and at dawn 'the Bug-a-Wugs grow sleepy and still.' " Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 4-- Perhaps it's the jacket art's portrait of our hero with two perfectly functional sets of arms spotlighted on a stage that generates the aura of fantasy. Or it might even be the hint of the quasi-classical Butterfly's Ball in the sequence of scenes showing the arrival of the insects to Nick's place to dance the night away to the tunes of the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band. The poem's refrain tells readers that "The music is just so grand," and there's a foot-tapping beat to the variously rhymed lines that demands reading aloud to validate the claim. Phrases such as: "Slap-a-spoon drummers and the crick-crick-crickety kazoo hummers" typify the descriptive candences. Comes the dawn, all "go back with the moonlight under the hill." The paintings are not always as joyous. There is in their frequent use of shadow and silhouette a touch of the mysterious, even the sinister. In the creation of his cast of anthropomorphic critters and in setting them into melodramatic and crowded scenes, Joyce creates a benign Walpurgisnacht. One double-page spread depicts a club full of frenzied dancers that rivals one from one of the Star Wars films. With Joyce's illustrations, it's not just the music that's "so grand." --Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Nicholas Cricket
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 really like this book
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.

Beautiful illustrations
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!