Criss Cross

(Perkins, Lynne Rae. Criss cross . New York: Greenwillow Books, 2005. Print.)

Summary: Tracing the main character, Debbie, as well as diverging to focus on other characters, Criss Cross exposes the emotional growing up and social exchanges of a group of young teens as they make their ways through the school year and summer.

Reading Level: Ages 11-14, Lexile 820L

Key words/phrases:

    1. Life Experiences

    2. Relationships

    3. Emotional and social development

    4.  Understanding self and others

    5. 1970s

Suggested Delivery:  Small group

Electronic Resources:

    1. Criss Cross Teaching Guide provides discussion questions and activities which support this book.

    2. This is another Criss Cross Teaching Guide which you have to pay for.

Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary: Arcadian, snuff, pastimes, symmetry, culvert, hookah, aversions, crone, relegate, enigmatic

Reading Strategies to increase comprehension:

         Before: This book captures the changes that a group of young teens undergo over a summer. Have students write an entry in their writers notebook about what makes summer magical and why summer can be viewed as a time for change and development.

         During: While reading this book, have students perform a think aloud after sections in the book, such as after the narrative voice changes. During the think aloud, have students explain how they read, process what they read, predict, and visualize while reading and the feelings, understandings, and connections they make to what they have read

         After: Through discussion, have students trace as a group, at least one character throughout the book and the changes they underwent. What changes did the characters undergo? If they hadn’t met who they had or hadn’t had one or more of the encounters/experiences they had, how would they be different? Have students reflect on and explain how the character might be different if they made different choices.



Lynne Rae Perkins



 

Writing activity demonstrating inferential comprehension:

Have students write another entry in their writer’s notebook reflecting on whether the way people end up is left to chance or choice. Have students give explicit examples form the book on how individual encounters and experiences shape the characters.