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[CCBC-Net] Criss Cross (very very long!)
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From: Monica Edinger <monicaedinger>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:46:40 -0500
I agree with Ginny that this year's Newbery winner is a work of art. Over the last few months I've written numerous passionate posts about CRISS CROSS on the adbook list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adbooks). Since I think they are better than anything I can write now about this lovely book and since most of you aren't on adbooks here are a few of them.
September 12, 2005 Read it last night and thought it was terrific! I agree with you: quite a contender. I bet kids will start reading it the way I did --- "What the hell is this? Who is who? Where is the plot?" and then get completely drawn in. Fantastic sense of place. The various scenes are delightful. Adored the philosophizing; exactly right for this kids. Some incredibly elegant writing (and you know I'm a sucker for that:) The plot is the least of it, but it is there. Just when I was ready to throw the book up in the air, it
(the plot) kicked in. Only quibble I had is that it can be hard to keep all the characters straight, especially secondary ones like Phil. It does seem from some past slightly past time which sometimes bugs me (as I'm not sure why there have to be so many books about the time of my adolescence:), but somehow it feels universal and it works.
November 30, 2006 I do think this book is lovely, that it has a particular sensibility that I feel accurately captures a particular young person at a particular time in his/her life. There you are feeling that the world is your oyster, that wealth of possibilities, and then there are those random things that happen or that don't happen. I guess I remember so vividly noticing and feeling that way. I can even recall where I was (on a walk with my family near Washington University where we then lived) when having my first existential angst moment. As for the setting, I don't get the problem with it. To my mind, an author writes about what he she knows best. If Perkins feels she can provide a more heartfelt and real sense of this time for her characters by placing it in the time when she was their age, I say go for it. It doesn't feel self-indulgent as much as a way to make it real. I love all the stylistic devices. One of the strongest books of the year for me.
December 18, 2005 Here's a thought. Maybe I'm w-a-y off here, but as I was thinking about Winnie-the-Pooh (after hearing of poor Christopher Robin's firing by Disney) it occurred to me that it has much in common with this book. Both Perkins and Milne are dealing with simplicity, tiny events, existential angst, and so on. I've just opened my copy of POOH at random and I'm on page 5 where there is a lovely illustration of Pooh climbing a tree to get honey. Alongside the tree is a long sentence, perfectly paralleling Pooh's climb.
He climbed and he climbed and he climbed, and as he climbed he sang a little song to himself. It went like this:
Isn't it funny How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does?
Let's compare that to Hector's first song on page 92:
I'm thinkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout boys, boys, boys, I'm talkin' 'bout girls, girls, girls
(two, three, four)
Or, how about this on page 43 in POOH:
"And how are you?" said Winnie-the-Pooh.
Eeyore shook his head from side to side.
"Not so very how," he said. "I don't seem to have felt at all how for a long time."
Versus this on page 146 of CRISS CROSS:
"It bothered Patty that electrons were so constantly in motion. It made the whole world seem like a place on the verge of disintegration."
Of course there are differences, but both authors seem to capture small moments and thoughts exquisitely, Milne that of a very small child and Perkins that of a child becoming an adult. Different stages, but similar approaches.
Monica
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:46:40 -0500
I agree with Ginny that this year's Newbery winner is a work of art. Over the last few months I've written numerous passionate posts about CRISS CROSS on the adbook list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adbooks). Since I think they are better than anything I can write now about this lovely book and since most of you aren't on adbooks here are a few of them.
September 12, 2005 Read it last night and thought it was terrific! I agree with you: quite a contender. I bet kids will start reading it the way I did --- "What the hell is this? Who is who? Where is the plot?" and then get completely drawn in. Fantastic sense of place. The various scenes are delightful. Adored the philosophizing; exactly right for this kids. Some incredibly elegant writing (and you know I'm a sucker for that:) The plot is the least of it, but it is there. Just when I was ready to throw the book up in the air, it
(the plot) kicked in. Only quibble I had is that it can be hard to keep all the characters straight, especially secondary ones like Phil. It does seem from some past slightly past time which sometimes bugs me (as I'm not sure why there have to be so many books about the time of my adolescence:), but somehow it feels universal and it works.
November 30, 2006 I do think this book is lovely, that it has a particular sensibility that I feel accurately captures a particular young person at a particular time in his/her life. There you are feeling that the world is your oyster, that wealth of possibilities, and then there are those random things that happen or that don't happen. I guess I remember so vividly noticing and feeling that way. I can even recall where I was (on a walk with my family near Washington University where we then lived) when having my first existential angst moment. As for the setting, I don't get the problem with it. To my mind, an author writes about what he she knows best. If Perkins feels she can provide a more heartfelt and real sense of this time for her characters by placing it in the time when she was their age, I say go for it. It doesn't feel self-indulgent as much as a way to make it real. I love all the stylistic devices. One of the strongest books of the year for me.
December 18, 2005 Here's a thought. Maybe I'm w-a-y off here, but as I was thinking about Winnie-the-Pooh (after hearing of poor Christopher Robin's firing by Disney) it occurred to me that it has much in common with this book. Both Perkins and Milne are dealing with simplicity, tiny events, existential angst, and so on. I've just opened my copy of POOH at random and I'm on page 5 where there is a lovely illustration of Pooh climbing a tree to get honey. Alongside the tree is a long sentence, perfectly paralleling Pooh's climb.
He climbed and he climbed and he climbed, and as he climbed he sang a little song to himself. It went like this:
Isn't it funny How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does?
Let's compare that to Hector's first song on page 92:
I'm thinkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout boys, boys, boys, I'm talkin' 'bout girls, girls, girls
(two, three, four)
Or, how about this on page 43 in POOH:
"And how are you?" said Winnie-the-Pooh.
Eeyore shook his head from side to side.
"Not so very how," he said. "I don't seem to have felt at all how for a long time."
Versus this on page 146 of CRISS CROSS:
"It bothered Patty that electrons were so constantly in motion. It made the whole world seem like a place on the verge of disintegration."
Of course there are differences, but both authors seem to capture small moments and thoughts exquisitely, Milne that of a very small child and Perkins that of a child becoming an adult. Different stages, but similar approaches.
Monica
-- Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at gmail.comReceived on Thu 16 Feb 2006 09:46:40 AM CST
