Feeling festive this fall? Check out our new title picks for the season.

Summary and Reviews of Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Criss Cross

by Lynne Rae Perkins
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2005, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2008, 368 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Book Summary

The story of a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they should live it, seen mainly from the point of view of 14-year-old Debbie who wishes something would happen to make her a different person and Hector who feels he is unfinished. Winner of the 2006 Newbery Medal.

She wished
something
would happen.

Something good.

To her.

Looking at the bright, fuzzy picture in the
magazine, she thought, Something like that.

Checking her wish
for loopholes,
she found one.

Hoping it wasn't
too late, she thought
the word soon.

Winner of the 2006 Newbery Medal.

Chapter One

The Catch

She wished something would happen.

She wished it while she was looking at a magazine.

The magazine was her sister Chrisanne's; so was the bed she was sitting on and the sweater Debbie had decided to borrow after coming into Chrisanne's room to use her lip gloss. Chrisanne wasn't there. She had gone off somewhere.

Thinking she should be more specific in case her wish came true, even though it wasn't an official wish, it was just a thought, Debbie thought, I wish something different would happen. Something good. To me.

As she thought it, she wound her finger in the necklace she was wearing, which was her own, then unwound it again. It was a short necklace, and she could only wrap her finger in it twice. At least while it was still around her neck.

The article she was looking at was about how the most important thing was to be yourself. Although the pictures...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!
  • award image

    John Newbery Medal
    2006

Reviews

Media Reviews

KLIATT - Myrna Marler
This is not a novel for those addicted to adrenaline, but rewards those who patiently explore the story's treasures.

Booklist - Gillian Engberg
Starred Review. Best of all are the understated moments, often private and piercing in their authenticity, that capture intelligent, likable teens searching for signs of who they are, and who they'll become.

School Library Journal - B Allison Gray
Starred Review. Young teens will certainly relate to the self-consciousnesses and uncertainty of all of the characters, each of whom is straining toward clarity and awareness. Grades 6-9

Kirkus Reviews
A tenderly existential work that will reward more thoughtful readers in this age of the ubiquitous action saga. Fiction. 12-16.

Publishers Weekly
Part love story, part coming-of-age tale, this book artfully expresses universal emotions of adolescence. Ages 10+

Children's Literature - Mary Loftus
[Debbie] meanders through her tale, and by its end she has neither changed nor learned anything new. The reader will wish something had happened, too.

Reader Reviews

Mystery Student

Criss Cross
I thought this book was very good. It really showed the character a lot but I was very confused in the beginning. I still love it though!
Liz M.

My favorite book EVER!
Out of all the books I've read, this one is my favorite. This book mainly about two characters, Debbie and Hector, and how they change through the course of one summer.The switching points of views give different opinions on the same thing or moment....   Read More
sdfsfsf

Criss Cross
This book is amazing! :-)
Rboo

criss cross
This book is one of my favorites because the feelings the characters have are feelings you can relate to. Like say you like someone and they like you to, you get to know this person but they go away, possibly you can never see them again but your ...   Read More

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Criss Cross, try these:

We have 4 read-alikes for Criss Cross, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Lynne Rae Perkins
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Books with similar themes


Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Final Cut
    Final Cut
    by Charles Burns
    Illustrator and writer Charles Burns is no stranger to the horror circuit. Most prominently known ...
  • Book Jacket: Season of the Swamp
    Season of the Swamp
    by Yuri Herrera
    Though he will go on to become President, reformer, and national hero of Mexico, in 1853 Benito Ju&#...
  • Book Jacket: Playground
    Playground
    by Richard Powers
    The primary narrator of Richard Powers' latest novel, Playground, is Todd Keane, who at 57 years old...
  • Book Jacket: The Empusium
    The Empusium
    by Olga Tokarczuk
    Not long after checking into Willi Opitz's "Guesthouse for Gentlemen," young Mieczysław Wojnicz...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

  • Book Jacket

    The Naming Song
    by Jedediah Berry

    Miyazaki meets Guillermo del Toro.

Book Club Giveaway!
Win Let Us Descend

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward imagines the life of an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War in this instant classic.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..