Module 3: Criss Cross

Lynne Rae Perkins

Criss Cross reminds me of a tween-friendly and pure version of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. It is the end of the school year for a handful of young teenagers who are embarking on a commonplace, uneventful summer in a small town during the 1960's. Young boys and girls' paths cross, listen to radio shows, suntan, relax, wonder and admire the opposite sex, reflect and learn from each other, simply think, and simply be. This book highlights and hones in on individual moments and thoughts uniquely drawn out and intricately explored.

Impact on me
This book made me want to start it over again just to figure out if I missed what the meaning of the book was. The sentence on the front describes how I felt perfectly, "She wished something would happen." It is ironic because nothing actually happened in the story, yet everything happened all at the same time. I honestly would recommend this book to everyone just to have a conversation with them about the book and ask what type of emotions and thoughts it gave them. Criss Cross definitely took me back to the days of my adolescence before I was on the clock working for money and planning for the rest of my life. When everything in life was pure and simple.

Reviews
In keeping with Perkins’s almost Zen-like tone, such flubbed opportunities are viewed as unfortunate but not tragic. “Maybe it was another time that their moments would meet.” Like a lazy summer day, the novel induces that exhilarating feeling that one has all the
time in the world.
Heppermann, C. M. (2005). Criss Cross. Horn Book Magazine, 81(5), 585.

Through narrative that has the flow of stream-of-consciousness writing but is more controlled and poetic...Part love story, part coming-of-age tale, this book artfully expresses universal emotions of adolescence.
Criss Cross. (2005). Publishers Weekly, 252(43), 58.

In the Library
The librarian can assign this to students in the school's book club or even reading and creative writing classes. The post-reading discussion that this book would generate would be absolutely enlightening for all involved. Questions to discuss could be: How do people make connections with others? Is there one true love for all of us? or are there various people scattered around the world? What moments define an individual? Another idea for students who have read this book is to set up a scrapbook year-round in the library that students can write their thoughts in regarding the topics of the book, students can answer the questoins above, create art work and sketches relating to the book, etc.

Perkins, L. R. (2005). Criss Cross. New York : Greenwillow Books