Tucker's Countryside

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) wrote not only the adventures of Chester, Harry, Tucker, and their friends but also The Genie of Sutton Place, which was one of School Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year. Garth Williams (1912–1996) illustrated all of George Selden’s Chester Cricket books. His other distinguished work includes Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Little House books.

“A delightful, breezy story with lively humorous drawings . . . A warm, witty, whimsical text.”—School Library Journal, Starred Review “An enchanting book . . . funny, tender, exciting.”—The Washington Post “Thrilling and funny . . . an outstanding book of the year.”—The New York Times “There’s enough gusto—especially in Tucker’s reactions to rural life and to Harry’s defection—to make this a not unworthy successor to Cricket if not its equal.”—Kirkus Reviews “It isn’t often that a reviewer can write that a sequel to a delicious book is every bit as delicious as the book it follows. . . . Tucker’s Countryside is a perfect match in text and illustration to . . . The Cricket in Times Square.”—Publishers Weekly “A charming . . . fantasy. Beautifully illustrated.”—The Horn Book A School Library Journal Best Book of the YearA New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year