Ride a flying carpet to this month’s Cricket.

What happens when your best friend turns on you for no
reason? Find out how one girl faces the challenge, and makes a surprising new
friend, in “Bully.”

Have you ever wondered why you have so many mismatched pairs
of socks? (If you haven’t, you mom or dad probably has.) Find out the real
reason in “The Exodermis Protection Suit.”

Do you love libraries? And aliens? Then let Cricket transport you to “The
Intergalactic Collection of Knowledge and Records,” where two friendly and
bookish brothers from Neptune encounter an abducted human.

In this issue we begin a new five-part serial “The Forty
Thieves,” an original story told from the point of view of Morgiana in the Arabian Nights.

There’s a true story about an enormous aircraft carrier made
of . . . ice and straw—an incredibly strong material, Pykrete. And in “On Dragonwings”
a young stonecutter dreams about a new life.

All this, plus a new story contest, the latest episode of
the bugs, and more Blots from the Inkwell. Hoppy New Year!