Kenny Sykes and his family just moved into their new home in Bethesda, MD and what he likes best is the pool in the backyard. He loves swimming in the early morning and rescuing the dozens of bugs, especially the crickets which seem intent on drowning. Kenny turns into “Cricket Man” in order to save the crickets and other critters which jump in the pool and even designs a homemade t-shirt with the logo, CM on it. He wears the t-shirt under his clothes and secretly believes that his alter ego gives him certain powers like not saying stupid things in front of girls and always coming up with the right thing to say. He develops a friendship with his high school junior neighbor, Jodie Poindexter and soon discovers she needs saving but he feels unequipped to handle her deep depression. There are several undeveloped plot threads and red herring situations that come to nothing, for example, Kenny’s wealthy Latino friend Luis and an increase in gang related activity in Maryland. Several reviewers revealed the shocking climax, but doing so diminishes the impact of the situation for the reader. The book addresses themes of trust and friendship, student privacy, depression, and family relationships. Kenny is a little too perfect and mature for his age to be entirely believable, but he is an engaging character. ( )

Kenny Sykes is the main character. During the summer he swims every morning before his little brother wakes up. But when he wakes up he has to take crickets out of his pool. I think in his mind he’s a secret savior that saves many crickets who bound to do suicide. When he thought of a super hero name he thought Cricket Man then he went to a t-shirt shop he put on the initials for Cricket Man in capital letters. When school starts up again Cricket Man finds that there are more important things that need saving. One of those things is named Jodie Poindexter. She’s a junior across the street and that means she is a neighbor. She’s also a secretive girl in school.