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How does a spirited young woman find her own path when society has ideas about who she should be?
In The Cricket, Marjorie Benton Cooke follows a bright, determined young woman as she meets the world around her. Her high spirits and sharp tongue give this classic novel its starting point. At its heart is a search for a true self: how to face other people's expectations without losing the wish to choose for yourself.
Society, ambition, work and love frame that search. The novel belongs to early twentieth-century American fiction, with its interest in women's changing lives and their wish to be useful. Cooke brings a spirited heroine to questions that feel personal: what to make of your abilities, how to live among others, and what kind of person to become.
What you’ll discover
- A bright, determined heroine Meet a young woman whose high spirits bring energy to her search for herself.
- Society and the self Explore the tension between a woman's own wishes and the expectations around her.
- Ambition with a purpose Consider how the wish to be useful shapes questions about a woman's path.
- Work and love Discover a story for readers curious about how women of this era weigh both.
- A search through trial Follow the idea of finding a true self through encounters with the wider world.
Who will love it
Readers who love spirited heroines, comic family trouble, and stories of growing up in the early twentieth century will find a lively companion here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Mischief answers a lonely childhood
- Affection reveals what Isabelle is missing
- Fairness gives Isabelle room to grow
- A first crush becomes another escape
- Talent needs more than grand ambitions
- Playful inventions involve other people's feelings
- Being understood does not erase responsibility
- Imagination needs discipline and kindness
- A child needs to be noticed
Who’s who
- Isabelle BryceA clever, plain, fearless girl, called the cricket, who wants to be understood and loved and turns mischief into a way of getting noticed.
- Wally BryceHer small, anxious, kind father, who slowly discovers he is fond of the daughter his wife has left to him.
- Max BryceIsabelle's beautiful, bored mother, who never wanted a child and wants only to be left to her parties and her comfort.
- Ann BarnesThe young Vermont governess who gives Isabelle the first tenderness of her life and wants to rescue her from neglect.
- Miss WattsA bookish English governess whose calm and humor win Isabelle's respect, and who stays by her through many scrapes.
- Mrs. BenjaminThe gentle Quaker teacher at Hill Top who answers Isabelle's bitterness with patience, letters, and honest love.
- Martin ChristiansenA literary critic and family friend who treats Isabelle as an artist and offers her advice and rescue when she needs it.
- Larry O'LearyA charming wounded Irish captain who is adored by every woman on the ship and intrigued by the one girl who ignores him.
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The Cricket in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Cricket
by Marjorie Benton Cooke · 1915
A four-year-old drops naked from a tree at her own birthday party, and a lifelong war with her parents begins.
Easy read2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“My wits against them all.”
In short
Can a child of four be so hard to raise that her own parents give up? In The Cricket, Isabelle Bryce drops out of a tree with no clothes on, in front of every guest at her own birthday party.
The Cricket at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 10 min3 h 20 min fast, 5 h slow
- Length
- 59,900 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1915by Marjorie Benton Cooke
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A four-year-old turns her birthday party upside down
Isabelle Bryce is four, and she will not go to her own birthday party. Her friend Patsy, the gardener's son, has not been invited, and she will not go without him. She runs from her governess, Miss Wilder, and appears in a petticoat and socks.
Her mother, whom everyone calls Max, lies on a couch with an iced drink and a book. She finds her child a nuisance and says so. Her father, Wally, has a great deal of money and no idea what to do with the girl.
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Details
- First published
- 1915
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 40 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Cooke, Marjorie Benton. The Cricket. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cricket.
Cooke, M. B. (2026). The cricket. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cricket (Original work published 1915)
Cooke, Marjorie Benton. The Cricket. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cricket.
@book{cooke2026cricket,
author = {Cooke, Marjorie Benton},
title = {The Cricket},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cricket},
note = {First published 1915}
}
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What is The Cricket by Marjorie Benton Cooke about?
It follows Isabelle Bryce, a clever, mischievous daughter of wealthy, neglectful parents, from a disastrous birthday party at age four to her first adventures as a young woman. Governesses, a Quaker school, the stage, and a trip to Bermuda shape her.
Why is Isabelle called the cricket?
Jerry Paxton, a young man she meets on a yacht, says she looks like a cricket because she sits so quietly and never chirps. The name sticks, and Larry later uses it affectionately during their courtship.
Who are Max and Wally in The Cricket?
Max and Wally are Isabelle's mother and father, Mrs. Bryce and Walter Bryce. She calls them by first names from early childhood, a sign of how little family closeness there is in the house.
The author
Marjorie Benton Cooke
1876–1920 · American novelist and playwright
Marjorie Benton Cooke was an American novelist, playwright, and monologue performer. She was born in 1876 and died in 1920. She lived in the United States and wrote during the early twentieth century. Her novels include Bambi, published in 1914, and The Cricket, published in 1915.
“My wits against them all.”
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