Mary Loftus (Children's Literature)
A small and handy phrase on the cover of this novel tells the reader what the book is about, and that is a lucky feature. Without it, one might not be able to figure it out. The point of view shifts between several characters in a way that confuses, rather than illuminates, the story. “She wished something would happen,” the cover states. “She” refers to Debbie, and the ambiguity of “something” is felt throughout the novel. Peter, Dan, Lenny, Leon, and Hector are some of the characters woven throughout Debbie’s story, all with plotlines of their own. Some characters, like Debbie’s mom, make brief appearances and then disappear with no explanation. Others, like Chrisanne, fulfill no function in the story. Several of the subplots are unresolved by the end of the book and whether or not Debbie got her wish is anyone’s guess. She meanders through her tale, and by its end she has neither changed nor learned anything new. The reader will wish something had happened, too. 2005, Greenwillow Books, $15.99 and $17.89. Ages 10 to 14.

Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
Lynne Rae Perkins writes not one but four coming-of-age stories which show us the ennui and longing of teens waiting for life to start. Minutia fills the empty moments of life in the small town of Seldem as four teenagers seek romance and better sense of what their lives might become. Their lives are a series of missed connections that somehow connect them and illustrate the title. The writing is poetic, philosophical, Zen-like, but far from gripping. The unnamed narrator begins the book by telling us that one heroine, Debbie, “wished something would happen” and readers may share that desire before many pages turn. Plot-seeking readers may miss the artistic genius of this novel, which changes form often to compensate for lack of action. Perkins’ best surprises are visual. Perkins, who began her career in picture books, liberally sprinkles pen and ink drawings and black-and-white photographs throughout. One character tells another about a newspaper article about mentally ill patients painting cats, their portraits becoming wilder and wilder with deepening madness. This might have been lost in the text but will be remembered forever with Perkins’ representation of the mild to extreme pictures. Images like these will be far more successful with young adult audiences than Perkins’ equally beautiful word images. 2005, Greenwillow, $16.99. Ages 11 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2006)
Debbie, Hector, Lenny, Patty, and Phil live normal fourteen-year-old lives in a normal community, and face normal adolescent issues, including romance, identity, family, and self-actualization. What makes Criss Cross remarkable is not high drama but rather the remarkable depth Lynne Cross Perkins has created by revealing her characters through small but significant moments that impact their own—and one another’s—lives. The five of them intersect most often sitting in Lenny’s dad’s truck, where they listen to an old radio show called Criss Cross. The title serves as the central metaphor for the rambling intersections of their lives, the meaningful connections and the poignant near misses, which are revealed in many formats throughout the novel, including poetry, anonymous conversations in the dark, and a smattering of unique graphic art drawn and compiled by the author. With lyrical prose and a genuine affection for her characters, Perkins is able to demonstrate the beauty of existential wonderings and wanderings. At times, the characters’ insights into themselves and the nuances of teenage life are laugh-out-loud funny, and readers will recognize certain universal truisms, such as Debbie’s observation about dragging jeans: “She believed that it was the only way to wear pants that made any sense. That wearing dragging jeans did not actually guarantee that good things would happen to you, but not wearing them could almost guarantee that the good things wouldn’t.” Or the first song that Hector writes after beginning guitar lessons: “I’m thinkin ‘bout/ talkin’ ’bout / boys boys boys / talkin’ ’bout / girls girls girls.” In that short stanza, Hector has summarized teen life. Perkins’s narrative focuses most closely on Debbie, a wise and tender character she first introduced in All Alone in the Universe (Greenwillow / HarperCollins, 1999). CCBC Category: Fiction for Children. 2005, Greenwillow / HarperCollins, 368 pages, $16.99 and $17.89. Ages 11-14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 16))
Debbie, from All Alone in the Universe (1999), returns in a poignantly funny coming-of-age story. Set in the town of Seldem (conjuring up "hardly ever") in the leisurely era of double-knit bell-bottoms (fully illustrated), this limns crisscrossing moments in the lives of teen friends. It begins with Debbie's yearning for something to happen. What happens is a poetic mTlange of sweetly ordinary moments in a summer of block parties, fireflies, warm apple dumplings, romance and social awkwardness as the characters try to "find all their pieces" and watch life rearrange itself. Told by an omniscient narrator (who may be the author), this offers multiple perspectives and diverse formats including photographs, exquisite and funny drawings, haiku and a dialogue written entirely in questions. It comes full circle as the two introductory characters, Debbie and Hector, almost wake up to each other at a summer party: "Their paths crossed but they missed each other." Written with humor and modest bits of philosophy, the writing sparkles with inventive, often dazzling metaphors. A tenderly existential work that will reward more thoughtful readers in this age of the ubiquitous action saga. 2005, Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 352p, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 12 to 16. Starred Review. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Myrna Marler (KLIATT Review, September 2005 (Vol. 39, No. 5))
This quirky, delightful novel ambles, meanders, and strolls its way towards a plot. Told in a series of short vignettes (38 in all), the story centers on a group of 14-year-old neighbors and friends finding their way to adulthood. Their stories meet, crisscross, diverge, and then come back together again over the course of a summer. On Saturdays, the teenagers get together in Lenny’s father’s truck to listen to a radio show. Lenny teaches Debbie to drive a stick shift in his driveway. Hector learns to play the guitar in a church basement and tries to impress a beautiful girl he meets there. An older sister offers wise advice though she, too, is still feeling her way. Patty and Debbie discuss the merits of Nancy Drew in the middle of the night. Debbie wants something wonderful to happen. Dan, a handsome football player, veers between turning into a decent human being or a shallow, charming egomaniac. All of them are asking how they fit in the universe, whether they are controlled by destiny or whether they control their destinies. Accidents happen. Beneficial events occur. They communicate and mis-communicate. Opportunities are missed and taken. But through it all, they are growing and becoming more aware of the world around them and the excellent possibilities that await. The text is dotted with charming illustrations by the author, who has written other tales for both YAs and children (e.g., All Alone in the Universe). This is not a novel for those addicted to adrenaline, but rewards those who patiently explore the story’s treasures. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2005, HarperCollins, Greenwillow, 352p. illus., $15.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Deborah Stevenson, Associate Editor (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 1))
Novels with a specific plot may be the easiest to describe, but they’re not necessarily the best books. Sometimes a title manages to address some of the aspects of life that are most difficult to describe yet important to experience. And if you’re Lynne Rae Perkins, you can remain comfortingly, invitingly accessible even as you explore abstract notions such as the possibilities within us, the possibilities between us, and our openness to both. That’s the underlying theme in this chronicle of a neighborhood’s summer, where a set of young teens turn to thoughts of change: Debbie wishes ‘something different would happen. Something good. To me,’ while her old friend Hector contemplates the future: ‘He felt himself changing, but into what?’ Hector takes guitar lessons in the hope of capturing some charismatic magic and conceives a crush on a cute classmate; Debbie hangs out with her friend Patty, loses a necklace with her name on it, yearns for hunky Dan, and ends up helping an old lady around the house, which leads to an entry-level romance with the old lady’s grandson. Throughout, kids hang out together in configurations that hold a flickering undercurrent of meaning and that might start to mean other things; moments sometimes reach their potential of significance and sometimes slide by, making way for other possibilities. Occasional references suggest a setting of a few decades ago, but this is hardly a historical novel: it’s set any time when kids can hang around together and look at one another anew as they grow. The narrative ripples fluidly into occasional structural variations such as dialogues or side-by-side columns of simultaneous experience, and there’s a recurring Midsummer Night’s Dream allusion (Debbie fixes on Dan because he’s the first thing she sees as she awakens to the world, while Dan hovers between staying, conceptually, a donkey and turning into something better) that will slide by most readers but tickle the knowing few. Perkins’ thumbnail art, sketches, and interpolated snapshots function sometimes as diagram, sometimes as editorial comment, sometimes as illustration, and add to the dimensionality of the experience. The book’s feeling remains uncomplicated, though, with such variations merely a meander through interesting territory to look at things a different way. Perkins is the mistress pluperfect of plain speech that conveys ethereal concepts (‘Debbie had been separated from her moorings and there was a spongy piece of her left open to the universe in whatever form it might take’), and she brilliantly captures the adolescent-level Zen that thoughtful kids bring to their assessment of the world (and of which adults often have lost the habit). This isn’t a book so bogged down in the ineffable as to be uneventful, however; there’s Debbie’s romance and heroic intervention when her old lady falls ill, her necklace’s wandering trip around town, Hector’s increasing absorption and skill in songwriting. Mostly, though, this is a book that masters replication of the way life incorporates events into a larger context rather than consisting of them, and the unforced, leisurely rhythm allows the richness of the individual characters’ thoughts and experiences to predominate over plot points. Ultimately, Criss Cross reassures as it explores. By focusing on the crucial questions of early adolescence (Can I be in reality the person I imagine being? Do we connect with one another?) it grants them significance; by answering them gently with a tacit ‘sometimes’ it allows for the possibility of such achievements at another time even if young readers (and the rest of us) don’t always manage them now. And it’s good to hear that ‘mistakes would have to be made. Maybe a lot of mistakes. It was okay. They can’t hear me, but I want to tell them it’s okay, they’re doing just fine.’ It’s a glorious thing, ‘waking up on a midsummer night.’ Or any time. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R* -- Denotes books of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Greenwillow, 352p, $16.89 and $15.99. Grades 5-8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2006)
Perkins's wonderfully contemplative and relaxed yet captivating novel, illustrated with her own perfectly idiosyncratic spot art, is a collection of fleeting images and sensations--some pleasurable, some painful, some a mix of both--from her ensemble cast's lives. Set in a 1970s small town, the third-person narrative floats back and forth between the often humorous, gradually evolving perspectives of its characters. Category: Older Fiction. 2005, Greenwillow, 337pp, 16.99, 17.89. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 1: Outstanding, noteworthy in style, content, and/or illustration.

Kathy L. Fiedler (The Kutztown Book Review, Fall 2006)
Debbie and Hector, and their friends, Lenny, and Patty, experience the joys and pain of self-discovery throughout a spring and summer. Debbie ponders whether she is worthy of love, while Hector struggles with clumsiness and experiments with learning to play the guitar and singing in public. This 2006 Newbery Award-winning book is everything is promises to be—a random, very realistic, compelling series of loosely-related events that show how two young adolescents face the common experiences of first love, social pressure, and new interests and begin to define themselves. This book is sure to be a hit with both boys and girls. Category: Realistic, Coming-Of-Age. 2005, Greenwillow Books, $17.89. Ages 11 to 14.

Monica Irwin (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 18, No. 3))
This simple book will appeal to many. It is the story of several teens who live in a small town in the 1960s. There is Hector who suddenly decides he wants to become a guitarist after hearing one. Debbie makes a wish that “something would happen” because she is bored with everything staying the same in her life. She craves excitement. There is Lenny who is attracted to Debbie. Each of these characters lives through a spring and summer visiting with each other and “criss-crossing” their town and each other’s lives. The overall feelings presented in this book are ones of hope in the future and gaining in wisdom as the three main characters grow older and more mature. Everyone “falls in love”--sort of, although the love is unrequited. Adult readers will be reminded of their days in the 1960s when kids were questioning many things. Younger (teen) readers will like the characters and will sympathize with and relate to their emotions. This book could be called a “gentle” book as it meanders its way through the lives of these three teens, along with the other characters. There isn’t an obvious plot, per se, but the story makes one know the characters and the town. There isn’t one particular spectacular thing that happens in Debbie’s life--as Debbie has wished--except life itself and the uniqueness that each day brings. One special note: The character of Debbie was also found in All Alone in the Universe by the same author. Fiction, Highly Recommended. Grades 4 and up. 2005, Greenwillow Books, 337p., $17.89. Ages 9 to 14.

Sophie Brookover (VOYA, October 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 4))
One Midwestern, mid-1970s summer, Debbie wishes for "something different to happen. Something good. To me . . . in a way that doesn't hurt anyone or cause any natural disasters . . . soon." And something does happen, as things often will in the lives of quiet, introspective teenaged girls. Quite a few things, actually-Debbie overcomes a hopeless crush on the worthless (if dishy) football player Dan Persik; learns to drive stick from her encyclopedia-memorizing, gearhead friend Lenny; saves the life of her feisty elderly neighbor, Mrs. Bruning; starts to fall in love with Mrs. Bruning's grandson, Peter; and develops a new theory about love in general. Revolving around Debbie are her friends Hector, who is learning to play guitar; Lenny, whose shyness and mechanical aptitude have let him drift away from academic classes; Patty, who recites spontaneous haiku; and Mrs. Bruning, whom Debbie meets by chance. Each character's story is connected to Debbie's by filaments reminiscent of a spider's web-seemingly insubstantial or invisible but surprisingly strong. This modest title boasts a wry sense of humor in its prose and illustrations, an earnest sense of wonder at the universe, exquisite phrasing, sly allusions to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a pace as leisurely as summer itself. Destined for cult favorite status among fans of Francesca Lia Block and Lynda Barry but worthy of a far wider audience, this book is a dreamy read for dreamy teens, the kind who, like Debbie, add considerate postscripts to selfish wishes. VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Greenwillow, 368p., $15.99 and PLB $16.89. Ages 11 to 18.