He is best known for his 1961 book The Cricket in Times Square, which received a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1963[1] and a Newbery Honor.

After Yale, he studied for a year in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship from 1951 and 1952 Selden is best known as the author of several books about the character Chester Cricket and his friends, Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat.

Moderately graphic scenes of sadomasochism, orgies and other sexual acts are narrated by Terry, the book's protagonist.

[4][5][6] Selden remained unmarried;[6] a resident of Greenwich Village in New York City, he died there at age 60 from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Selden wrote six sequels to his most famous book, all published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and illustrated by Garth Williams.