THE COOL CRAZY CRICKETS TO THE RESCUE

Flatly opposed to the idea of paying dues, clubmates Leo, Phoebe, Miranda, and Marcus find other ways to raise money, then opt to spend it worthily in this followup to Cool Crazy Crickets (2000). With 14 hard-earned dollars to show for watching Marcus’s horribly active little brother, pet-sitting a neighbor’s nervous Irish wolfhound, and selling lemonade, the four friends argue about whether it should go for snacks or other frills. But when the one-eyed stray cat that has been strolling through Elliott’s easy-reading chapters turns up in the Cricket clubhouse looking decidedly unwell, they quickly agree that a trip to the vet is in order. In freely sketched watercolors, Meisel (How to Talk to Your Cat, 2000, etc.) sets his multicultural quartet into a summery suburban neighborhood, and gives the cat, both before and after being nursed back to health with a week of TLC, an appealingly raffish look. Elliott partly devalues the Crickets’ sacrifice by rewarding them with free treats from the local snack shop, but thoughtful younger readers will still get the story’s point. (Fiction. 8-9)