Reviewed by Kasandra Zylstra
Summary and
Background
Criss Cross was chosen for the 2006 Newbery
award. Perkins presents her readers with a fascinating coming of age story.
Perkins not only writes young adolescent novels, but also paints and does the
art work for her novels. She was born in 1956 in Philadelphia and grew up with
her family in a suburb close by. Many of
Perkins best memories were from the 1970’s when she was an adolescent growing
up and learning about life. These memories gave her the desire to write Criss Cross later in her life. After
high school Perkins attended the University of Penn and later transferred to
the University of Milwaukee where she studied art and worked as a waitress to
earn her living. Her inspiration for writing adolescent novels came when she
was asked to provide artwork for a friend’s children book. Perkins decided that
she would not only write her own stories, but use her own artwork in them.
Debbie, the spunky fourteen-year-old,
was waiting for an adventure to happen soon. She was tired with the everyday
life of the 1970’s and wanted just a little bit of good to happen. Hector, on
the other hand, wanted to get the lovely ladies to notice him. He is a friend
of Debbie who is also fourteen and attends the same school. While sitting in a
coffee shop with is sister Rowanne, he hears the delicate guitar of a new
artist playing in the background. Hector now knows that his one aim in life is
to learn how to play the guitar. He is able to sign up for free lessons at the
church down the street. Along with these lessons, Hector teaches himself to
play the guitar and make song lyrics to go with the random chords he knows.
Debbie, along with her friends
Hector, Phil and Lenny, make a habit out of sitting in Lenny’s father’s truck
on Saturday nights and listening to the unique radio show “Criss Cross.” Songs
of new and old played as they all quietly dreamed of what was going to happen
to them the next day. Both Debbie and Hector want to experience love. Debbie
sees what love is in the magazines she takes from her sister Chrisanne. Hector
sees love in outside beauty. Little did they know that their lives would “criss
cross” during the summer. The summer drags by slowly, but Hector and Debbie
grow a deeper friendship despite the fast pace of the season. The main way
their lives intersected was when Debbie lost her necklace and Hector acquires
it in his lawn. He thinks of all the Debbie’s in his life because he wants to
do the morally correct thing and return the necklace to the correct owner. The
Debbie that he wanted to find was living down the street searching high and low
for her lost necklace. The necklace is the material possession that bring
Debbie and Hector into a closer friendship.
Interest
Girls in grades four through seven
would be most interested in Criss Cross.
Most would connect with Debbie and her search for love and self-understanding.
Because the novel has no strong male lead character and little action, young
males would not enjoy it. Middle
adolescents would mostly connect with the main character’s Debbie and Hector. The
exciting action of the novel comes when Debbie learns to drive a truck in
Lenny’s driveway. The romance between Debbie and Hector is minimal, but still
obvious to the reader. Middle
adolescents would also connect with the fact that the teenage characters in the
book are learning to become adults. Debbie is learning to become an adult by
making the correct decisions in the minor everyday choices she faces. Hector
also learns how to make good choices when he decides to treat young ladies in a
polite fashion.
Developing Mature
Readers
Coming
to terms with his or her own physical body. Debbie slowly realizes
throughout the novel that her body is changing in ways she did not expect. Her
body is becoming more adult-like in a physical sense. Although these changes
are new and unexpected, Debbie accepts them and realizes that to be a young
woman she must go through these changes. Perkins presents this stage as a
positive change. Through the character of Debbie, Perkins is showing young
ladies that the physical changes they experience are positive and that all females
go through this stage of life.
Developing
relationships with people of the same age. Hector, Debbie, Phil and Lenny
are all the same age. The friendship between all of them starts to grow when
they meet weekly for the radio show “Criss Cross.” Debbie is close with her
older sister Chrisanne, but grows semi-distant from her because she has found
people who are more her age to bond and grow with. Along with becoming a young
lady, Perkins shows that having relationships with your peers is positive. The
friendship between the four friends is always presented in a positive light.
Young readers will come to the understanding that having growing relationships
with people of the same age is a joyful and pleasant experience.
Achieving
good relationships with members of the opposite sex. Debbie is the only
female in her group of friends. She must interact with Phil, Lenny and Hector
differently than with her sister Chrisanne. Debbie becomes a well-liked girl by
all of her guy friends. During the entire novel Debbie sees herself as one of
the group. She does not see it as the boys plus her. As a young reader, those
who pick up this novel will see that people of the opposite genders can be
friends and not have feelings towards each other. Perkins again presents this
stage in a positive light. The growing friendship of boys and girls gives the
reader an understanding of balancing their friendships. Not only can they be
friends with the same gender, but also with the opposite gender.
Growing
independent from ones parents. Debbie’s parents are not a major part of her
life. She has to learn how to handle situations on her own and create her own
fun. She no longer looks to her parents for fulfillment. Although it sounds as
if the missing parents play a negative roll, it is quite the opposite. Young
adolescents can gain a sense of independence from the story Perkins presents.
For example, Debbie is not given a curfew by her parents, but still understands
the importance of coming home in a timely fashion. Debbie did not need her
parents to make this smart decision and adolescents can see the positive
picture of Debbie’s independence.
Potential Issues
with the Book
The novel does not have any issues. At
one point the reader is presented with Debbie taking her sister’s cosmetics and
clothing without asking. Some would see this as stealing because Debbie does
not think twice about her actions. The “borrowing” of the items by Debbie is
neither frowned upon nor praised in the novel. Parents and teachers may have to
tell their young readers that taking without permission is not always wise and
can have potential issues down the road.
Another potential issue is the use
of the word “hell.” In todays public circles this word may be seen as common in
the lingo of young adolescents. Hector tends to use this word often when he
goes into church to receive his free guitar lessons. If this book is going to
be taught in a Christian setting, teachers may want to remove this word from
the book or perhaps tell the class that using the word “hell” is inappropriate
in everyday conversation. Parents also may need to involved and explain to
their children what hell really is and why it should not be used.
Recommendation
While Criss Cross has some interesting scenes, such as Debbie learning
how to driving a manual truck, this book would not receive my recommendation.
It is extremely hard to follow since it bounces back and forth between the
lives of Debbie, Hector and occasionally Lenny. There seems to be no plot.
Perkins writes the every day occurrences of these young adolescents, but seems
to put no thought into why the characters do what they do. Young female
adolescents may enjoy the small, but evident, love part between Debbie and
Hector, but would get lost in the rest of the book because there seems to be no
story, just random events that these kids go through. If a student came to me
and asked whether I would recommend this book for their outside reading, I
would steer them in a different direction. The lack of plot and structure would
be a turn off to any student who wanted to read this. I would instead recommend
the popular series The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. I would recommend this novel to young
adolescents because it has an evident plot and a cast of characters that
females could connect with. The themes of friendship and loyalty are abundant
in Brashares novel and young adolescents would learn about the positive and
negative consequences their decisions could have.
Resources for
teaching or research
Parents and teachers can find many
resources online if they want to have their young reader dive into this novel. LynneRae is a website that the author
herself created to answer questions from parents, students and teachers.
Perkins will personally answer the questions anyone presents. This site also
includes more of Perkins books by and those who wish can leave a comment or
question for others to read. If one is familiar with Facebook, using LynneRae
will be a breeze. The parent, teacher or adolescent can simply click on the
book they wish to read about and at the bottom find a comment box in which they
write their comment and simply click “add.” Scholastic
has a select few resources that teachers can look at and use, but does not
have a great selection. The main gem of Scholastic
was the brief and clear synopsis of the book. The most helpful site in
teaching this book is Webteaching.
This site includes a vocabulary list of words in the book that students may not
understand along with ideas for writing journals. A unique option that this
site possesses is an online test. Students can read Criss Cross then go to this site to take a test on what they have
read. This test could help students with the questions they may have about the
characters and plot of the novel.
Works Cited
Lynne
Rae. “Lynne Rae: Author and Illustrator.” LynneRae.
2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.
Perkins,
Lynne Rae. Criss Cross. New York:
Harper Trophy, 2005. Print.
Scholastic.
“Teach with Newbery Medal Winners.” Scholastic.
2006. Web. 10 Apr.
2013.
Professional
Development Institute. “Criss Cross.”
Webteaching. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
