A spittle bug, a locust and a cicada greet a tiny cricket as it comes into the world for the first time - but the little insect doesn't now how to say 'hello' back. Finding this situation quite embarrassing, the wee cricket panics trying to make a sound. Soon he meets up with another quiet cricket that teaches him that the way to 'speak' is to rub his wings together. The cheerful illustrations and mesmerizing storyline in The Very Quiet Cricket will capture youngsters' imaginations. But award-winning children's author Eric Carle gives kids an extra special treat when they turn the last page and hear the authentic, electronic sound of a cricket's wings chirping away!

A very quiet cricket who wants to rub his wings together and make a sound as do so many other animals finally achieves his wish. The cricket''s sound is reproduced at the end of the book.

Eric Carle is an award-winning, children's picture book author and illustrator whose most recognized work is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book. Carle was born to German parents in 1929 in Syracuse, New York. The family returned to Germany in 1935, moving to a suburb of Stuttgart. Carle disliked high school, quitting at the age of 16 before graduation. He was admitted as the youngest student to the Akademie der bildenden Kunste, an art school. After finishing at the Akademie, he worked as a poster designer for the U.S. Information Center in Germany until 1952, when he moved back to New York City. He was a graphic designer at the New York Times and later worked as an art director at L.W. Frohlich & Co. In 1963, Bill Martin, Jr. saw a poster of a red lobster that Carle had designed and asked him to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, thus launching his freelance career. Among his many children's books are Hello, Red Fox, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and Pancakes, Pancakes!