Cricket publishes original stories, poems, folk tales, articles and illustrations by such notable artists as Trina Schart Hyman, the magazine's art director from 1973 to 1979.
Carus has solicited materials from well-known authors and illustrators, including Lloyd Alexander, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Hilary Knight, William Saroyan, Ursula K. Le Guin, Eric Carle, Stacy Curtis, Wallace Tripp, Charles Ghigna and Paul O. Zelinsky.
Cricket was founded by a group of "historically minded writers and their artist and designer friends", led by Marianne Carus of Open Court Publishing.
She had worked on "literature-based basic readers" for the school markets and had learned from teachers that there was a classroom demand for high-quality, short reading material.
[6] The founding Editorial Board (November 1972) comprised Carus, senior editor Clifton Fadiman, art director Trina Schart Hyman, prominent authors Lloyd Alexander, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Eleanor Cameron, Horn Book Magazine editor Paul Heins, "Kaye Webb (founder of Puffin Books and the doyenne of British publishers for children), Virginia Haviland (of the Library of Congress), and Sheila Egoff (Canada's leading authority in the field)."
Each of their posts are reviewed by a panel of three site administrators that make sure that the content is appropriate for the Cricket age range and that no personal information is shared.