Crickets can be found in nearly every part of the world, except where temperatures remain extremely cold year round. Crickets live in grasses, trees, bushes and nearly anywhere else where they can hide from predators. 

Obviously our cricket, Chester, is our main character and the star of our story. 

"He slid open his matchbox so his cricket could look around. It might be a while before they could come back. (Mr. Fong) peered at Chester. "Say, that fellow looks like a real fighter. Strong legs, thick head. That's a Black Head General.""

Honest and loyal, Chester will do his utmost to help his friends prosper, even if it costs him his freedom. 

"Are crickets lucky?  asked Mario. "Very. We like to say "a little body often harbors a great soul."" (p. 46)

There are over 900 species of crickets. Some species of crickets are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and other animals. Others only eat plants or plant materials, such as fruit, seeds, and leaves. 

A habitat is a place where an animal naturally lives or a plant naturally grows. A habitat is composed of five basic elements: food, water, air, shelter, and space. A healthy habitat provides everything an animal needs to survive and grow. 

In North America, there are many different types of habitats, such as forests, grasslands, deserts, and wetlands. Crickets live in almost any environment—forests, grasslands, wetlands, caves, beaches, and underground. Crickets, like other animals, will make their home wherever they can find food, water, air, shelter, and space. Crickets hide out in dark places, and don't mind the dark.

A small, inch-long, shiny black cricket from the Connecticut countryside, Chester feels close ties to his tree-stump home there, where he chatted with swallows and played his music for “woodchucks and pheasants and ducks and everybody else who lives in the meadow or the brook” (133). 

The environment in which they live often determines their color. Dark green or brown crickets can easily blend into an environment where there is lots of grass or dirt. Desert crickets, on the other hand, are often a lighter brown in order to blend into the lighter soils. 

Cricket wings have one edge with teeth like a "comb" and one with a "bow". The hard edge rubbing against the teeth of the other wing makes the chirping sound. Crickets are "right winged" and katydids are "left winged." 

The common field cricket has 142 teeth, and in its normal call uses 67 of the teeth to make its sound, which it produces as a triple note at 4,900 hz, which is higher than the highest octave on the piano.  

Crickets' chirping is temperature-dependent—the warmer the temperature, the faster a cricket will chirp. As a result, cricket chirping can be used to make a general estimate of the temperature in a geographical area. The easiest way to estimate the temperature is to count the number of chirps within 15 seconds and add 40. This can provide the approximate temperature within a few degrees Fahrenheit. However, it is not an exact measure, as multiple other factors can affect the rate of a cricket's chirping; these can include the cricket's age, mating status, hunger, and nearby competition.

Did you know that the Chinese have been raising crickets as pets for thousands of years? 

Emperors fell in love with crickets, had cricket fighting competitions, wrote poetry about them, and kept them in small cages in their pocket so the crickets would never get cold in the frosty Autumn weather. 

 Cricket in Chinese called bancho! 

Many cultures think crickets bring good luck. In fact, some people even keep crickets as pets.

It is thought to be a sign of wealth and good fortune. This was especially true in some Asian countries where the cricket was seen as the “watchdog.” The crickets were housed in small cages and suspended from rafters and doorways as pets. It is said that the cricket’s chirping would stop when danger was approaching; therefore, they act as an ‘alarm system’ to warn of unwanted guests. 

This practice, although dating back some time to the Tang Dynasty in China (618-907 AD), still continues today. In some Native American cultures, the cricket was also regarded as lucky, and it was considered disrespectful to mimic its chirping. 

Besides being a symbol of good luck, the cricket is also thought to be a symbol of prosperity, wealth, and abundance. This is often referred to as the Feng Shui Lucky Cricket meaning. This conception of the cricket begins with the lucky cricket wandering into your home, which symbolizes good fortune venturing into your life. 

It is also seen as prophetic: when the cricket makes its way into your house, it is meant to symbolize someone coming to pay you an unexpected visit to grant a wish or bestow you with good fortune. 

They have thin antennae protruding from their heads that they use to smell and touch. Their powerful hind legs are longer than their forelegs and are modified for jumping. Most crickets have two pairs of wings that help them jump: the ones in front are tough and stiff, and the ones in the back are long and thin. 

Entomologists study insects – the most numerous creatures of Earth. We seek to know how these bugs live, how they build their own societies, and how they affect us.