The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson
Age 8+
General Fiction
Winner of the prestigious Swedish August Prize 2020.
A bright, contemporary and fearless novel about an ordinary extraordinary eleven-year-old trying to win back her best friend and get her mother to stop sighing.
Cricket Karlsson is going to become an artist just like her aunt, who loves cheese and art and always speaks her mind. Not like Cricket's mother, who is dieting and sighs at everything. But now Aunt Frannie has lost her joy and Cricket's best friend has dumped her for the horse girls.
Eleven-year-old Cricket Karlsson is a warm and complex character with an artistic soul. Written as a diary, tween readers will fall in love with Cricket’s tough yet charming voice as she shares her secret thoughts about her best friend break-up, her Aunt’s breakdown and experimental chewing gum sculptures. Punkish and surprising comic-style illustrations perfectly compliment this coming of age story.
This is a liberating and unexpected story about growing up, fitting in, and sorting out the adults in our lives that will reach the hearts of young readers (and older ones).
"charming, funny, deceptively deep" The New York Times.
Kristina Sigunsdotter is a Swedish writer, artist and playwright. She is also the founder of The Poetry Factory, a poetry workshop for children.
Ester Eriksson is an artist and cartoonist from Sweden.
Praise for The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson
“The humorously blunt first-person narrative, which includes Cricket’s numerous revealing lists…offers a sympathetic portrait of an idiosyncratic, thoughtful preteen in a period of turmoil.” —Publishers Weekly.
"Sigunsdotter's honest voice and Eriksson's sophisticated and generously distributed art come together to honour the passion of (young female) friendships, and the pain that accompanies their dissolution." The New York Times
"(Cricket is) a voice of a generation, to quote Girls." Expressen
“We love this quirky, darkly emo but hilarious short novel” Readings.
"We’re obsessed with this side-splitting, heartfelt book ... filled with hilarious & wicked illustrations, delightfully oddball humour (recalling Harriet the Spy) and the perfect read for ages 10 through 100." Little Unity Books, Auckland
Creators
Kristina Sigunsdotter is a Swedish writer, artist and playwright. She is also the founder of The Poetry Factory, a poetry workshop for children.
Ester Eriksson is an artist and cartoonist from Steven.
Reviews
Packed with preadolescent angst, Sigunsdotter’s trim, quirky novel follows 11-year-old Cricket, who rates her life as “pretty good” until she returns to school after two weeks with chicken pox to discover that her best friend Noa has deserted her for a clique of “horse girls.” Soon, the girl’s beloved Aunt Frannie, who’s an artist like Cricket plans to be, loses her “life-joy” and is institutionalized in “something called Adult Psych.” Cricket tries to cope with these developments—hiding in the school bathroom, visiting Aunt Frannie as often as possible, and going outside on sleepless nights to throw cucumbers from a bridge—while trying to gently discourage a sweaty-handed male friend who suddenly wants to go out with her. The humorously blunt first-person narrative, which includes Cricket’s numerous revealing lists—secrets shared only with Noa (“Only my right breast has started growing”), secrets not even shared with Noa (“Sometimes I’m scared Mom and Dad will die”)—offers a sympathetic portrait of an idiosyncratic, thoughtful preteen in a period of turmoil. Eriksson’s scratchy b&w drawings, which accentuate Cricket’s emotions with a journal-like vibe, portray all characters with paper-white skin. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)
Publishers Weekly
Sigunsdotter’s honest voice and Eriksson’s sophisticated and generously distributed art come together to honour the passion of (young female) friendships, and the pain that accompanies their dissolution.
The New York Times
(Cricket is) a voice of a generation, to quote Girls.
Expressen
We love this quirky, darkly emo but hilarious short novel
Readings
We’re obsessed with this side-splitting, heartfelt book … filled with hilarious & wicked illustrations, delightfully oddball humour (recalling Harriet the Spy) and the perfect read for ages 10 through 100.
Little Unity Books, Auckland
