From: Paul W Goldschmidt <goldschp>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:37:52 -0600

Hi Monica (and others),

I think Beth Wright may be on to something. The issue with Criss Cross for me (and maybe some others) is that the characters don't engage me at all. In fact, I'm alienated by them. It's not an issue of what does or does not happen in the story (or its unusual structure). If I don't find a a character that I can identify with, I lose interest. I'm told that young readers are often the same way.

To compare this with Alice in Wonderland then, is a a mistake. Alice is easy to identify with. She's a little naughty, she hates to do what she's told to do, and she's inquisitive. Those are things that readers love about her. Her adventures are secondary once we've been captured by how much fun she is.

As for "books that need to be savored and enjoyed and explored for something else", I think that is the crux of the matter. If this goal you present is truly important, consider why it is. Are you saying that there is a payoff in searching for something beyond what is readily apparent? If so, look for books like that and demonstrate to the readers the payoff that comes from reading less-obvious storylines.

But I think the concentration on Criss Cross's lack of plot in this discussion has been missing the far more crucial challenge of this book -- that it is not really accessible.

-- Paul Goldschmidt

At 10:14 AM 2/19/2006, you wrote:
>On 2/19/06, Beth Wright <bethlibrarian at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > a lot of other adults too, do LOVE this book. Is it
> > because you love the craft and construction of this
> > immensely innovative novel, or because the characters and
> > their stories have moved you? I'm asking this partly
> > because I'm wondering which young readers will love it: the
> > smaller group who love truly unusual books, or the larger
> > group who love books that engage their emotions from the
> > first page? Or is it really a book for both groups, and
> > I'm just missing something?
>
>
>I often wonder what it is about how we read that draws us to certain books.
>How much is experience and how much temperament? Or how much is the
>expectations we bring to a book? Expecting something to happen in CRISS
>CROSS, I wonder if some readers become frustrated when "nothing" does.
>
>I have been wondering about how I'd teach this book in a way that would help
>a group of young readers engage with it. One thought I had was to give them
>a selection of similar books --- books that do not have driving dramatic
>plot lines, books that need to be savored and enjoyed and explored for
>something else. So far I could see using Alice in Wonderland and certain
>books of Paul Fleischman. (Perhaps Whirligig, Bull Run, or Dateline
>Troy?) Are there others that might work? (A number of books with
>intriguingly postmodern constructions also have more identifiable plots so
>I'd rule them out. Or they are for much older readers --- Moby Dick, for
>example!)
>
>Monica
Received on Sun 19 Feb 2006 02:37:52 PM CST