Tucker's Countryside by George Selden

Tucker's Countryside by George Selden

Chester Cricket needs help. That's the message John Robin carries into the Times Square subway station where Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse live. Quickly, Chester's good friends set off on the long, hard journey to the Old Meadow, where all is not well.
Houses are creeping closer. Bulldozers and construction are everywhere. It looks like Chester and his friends' home will be ruined and the children of the town won't have a place to play. Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse are used to the city life. Now in the country, they need to find a place to stay and good things to eat. And most of all they must think of a plan to help their friends.

George Selden (1929-1989) was the author of A Cricket in Times Square, a timeless children's classic that won the Newbery Honor in 1961. Selden was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and obtained his B.A. from Yale University. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale, where he was a member of the Elizabethan Club and wrote to the literary magazine. He attended Columbia University for three summer sessions and received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Rome for a year after graduation. Selden was frequently asked where he got the concept for The Cricket in Times Square.

I was riding the train home one night and heard a cricket chirp in the Times Square subway station. Within minutes, the story began to emerge in my imagination. Minutes like this are extremely valuable to an author, despite the fact that they occur far too infrequently. Tucker's Countryside and The Old Meadow are two of the seven novels in the popular Cricket series.

The Cricket in Times Square was adapted into an animated feature in 1973. Selden published around fifteen books and two plays during his lifetime. His stories combine the fantastic with everyday life, and he felt it was critical that his animal characters express genuine emotions and feelings.