Winner of a 2015 Moonbeam Children's Book Award

What's the secret to playing the violin beautifully? The golden cricket knows-but before Ellie is able to ask the cricket escapes! With the help of a shy friend and her three spunky pups Ellie encounters nature's colorful surprises as she searches for the easy solution to a squeaky violin.

Dalyce Elliott Young began to draw her rag doll characters when she was a small child. As a classically trained violinist she played in the Minneapolis Youth Symphony for six years and studied the fine arts in high school and college. She continues to regularly perform and record with jazz folk and gospel musicians in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Dalyce lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, has two children and five grandchildren, and is married to the poet Timothy Young.