Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins

Criss Cross
Author: Lynn Rae Perkins
Lexile: 820
Length: 337 Pages
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: Newbery Medal
Reading Ram Star Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

        Debbie lives in a small town, and she has never left once. It's the middle of the summer, she's bored with her life. She thinks a lot. She wishes things would be different. She wished something would happen. Something good, to her. Debbie has some friends, Hector, Lenny, and Patty. During the summer they were hanging out one day and started listening to a radio show. Every Saturday night, they got in a truck and turned up the radio and listened. It brought them together, they spent every week doing it. They looked forward to it and always had a laugh. Then everyone started doing their own thing. Lenny found a secret talent and started to use it. Hector started taking guitar lessons. And Patty was just busy. So Debby was left to do her own thing. She met someone very special, and did some very good things. Then everything comes together, and she is left with very special things. And very special experiences.
        I did not like this book at all! I seriously don't understand why it won the Newbery Medal! It was so incredibly boring at the beginning I honestly almost put it away. Harry Potter was a little strange at the beginning, but at least it wasn't that boring. This book was horrible! Nothing really happened until the end. And the stuff at the end didn't even make for a good book. Debby was bored with her life. Blah blah blah, she met someone she thinks she likes, blah blah blah, then she flirts with another boy. It just doesn't say anything good at all, maybe a couple life lessons. Like you have too look at life in a different ways, stuff like that. That alone is the only reason why I gave it 1.5 stars. If you need a book to trash, then read this one. 5th graders would probably get it a little, but really, I would just stay away from this book altogether. Since it's not good, it takes forever to read. Don't read it if you want to keep a good opinion of books!