Module 15: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Citation
Alexie, S.  (2007).  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  New York: Little Brown.

Summary
Readers learn the story of painfully awkward Arnold Spirit in this partially autobiographical account of Sherman Alexie's youth.  Blessed with cognitive abilities but limited by the resources of the Spokane Reservation, Spirit decides to attend school twenty-two miles away in Reardan, Washington.  Considered a traitor to the Spokanes and not accepted by the whites of Reardan, Spirit finds himself uncomfortably trapped between two cultures while he flourishes academically, excels at basketball, and forms tentative friendships.  At once tragic and comic, Alexie's lyrical prose details Spirit's life at home, the colorful characters of his communities, and major plot lines that culminate with the sentiment, "Love and death."

Impressions
This book deserves every bit of its National Book Award.  It hasn't made an impression on me; it has imprinted my perspective with its perceptiveness regarding human nature, an unforgettable mentality of poverty, its hilarity, and its pathos.  Its candor regarding the private life and colorful language of a 14-year-old boy aside (inextricable from the character of Arnold Spirit), this is a book that I plan to give as a gift to my sister and maybe even to my father.  I will recommend it to my son, who will be 14 this August.  One of my favorite lines: "We are all five years old in the presence or absence of our parents." So much beauty and pain and laughter and crying, all mixed up together without stooping to maudlin clichés or conventions.

This definitely ranks as one of the best books I've ever read -- but it is not for the faint of heart or squeamish regarding language or sexuality.  The story and its messages more than compensate for the mediation of a fourteen year old mind, and, in fact, that fourteen year old mentality really comprises a significant part of the story in all of its crudity, insight, big-heartedness, dorkiness, anger, ambition, and love.

I had read Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, too.  It contains another of my favorite lines: "I want to rasp into sober cryptology and say something dynamic but tonight is my laundry night."  Well done, Sherman Alexie!  Books like this make me grateful to be alive.

Review
Chipman, I.  (2007).  The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian [book review].  Booklist, 103(22), 61.
Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the “poor-ass” Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one. He weathers the typical teenage indignations and triumphs like a champ but soon faces far more trying ordeals as his home life begins to crumble and decay amidst the suffocating mire of alcoholism on the reservation. Alexie’s humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience, and he doesn’t pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt.  A few of the plotlines fade to gray by the end, but this ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure. Younger teens looking for the strength to lift themselves out of rough situations would do well to start here. Grades 7-10

Suggestions for use
This is a tough one for this book.  Without a doubt, it merits a place in middle school libraries and up, but its content will render it an unfortunate target of challenges.  So how does a school librarian use such a book?  I would hate to draw undue attention to the more provocative elements of the book when, taken as a whole, it has so much to offer.  I could definitely see it as part of a "Banned Books" display for middle or high schoolers.  However, I guess I would like to see its capacity to get a reader to look outside of him or herself emphasized.  If I gave a book talk on this title, this is the aspect I would dwell upon: how would life/education/family be different if you were born on the Spokane Reservation?  Such an exercise is invaluable in developing a critical mindset that aids young people in developing empathy and a compass for understanding the world outside of themselves.  Books of the highest order attempt to give young adults this glimpse in human terms -- not speaking down to them, but through the lens of their perspective.  Sherman Alexie has endeavored to do this in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Module 14: Time You Let Me In

Citation
Nye, N.  (2010).  Time You Let Me In.  New York: Greenwillow.

Summary
Texan Naomi Shihab Nye has accumulated a sampling of poetry from 26 poets under 25 (she miscounted: originally, it was supposed to be 25 poets under 25 as it reads on the cover).  The poets give voice to a variety of experiences, from war to immigration to love. 

Impressions
I will confess that this book surprised me.  There are some extremely talented young writers out there: watch out, world!  In fact, as I was reading the poems, a wire tripped, and I felt motivated to write my own verse (which, for now, will stay with me).  My favorites in this book include the following:
1) "Pupil" by Brianne Carpenter; it deals with the famous National Geographic photograph of a green-eyed Afghan girl. 
2) "invitation" by Mackenzie Connellee; the author writes about writing poetry.
3) "To Be Two" by Amal Khan; this excellent selection concludes with an interesting reflection on binary code in relationship to human perception.
4) "Living with a Bodhisattva Cat is Intimidating" by Margaret Bashaar; the cat "destroys all my knitting to teach me about impermanence." 
If poetry is the verbal distillation of emotion or experience which I believe it to be then this selection ranks as poetry of the highest order.  I would definitely seek it out for a middle or high school library and promote it with gusto.  I'm considering buying my own copy, and I will probably visit the websites of some of the authors to tell them how much I enjoyed their work.

Review
Rochman, H.  (2010).  Time you let me in [book review].  Booklist, 106(9), 58.
Moderation can wait––plenty of time for that later,” says acclaimed poet and anthologist Nye. She knows how to reach teens, and this lively collection by young contemporary writers is rooted in the strong, emotional particulars of family, friendship, childhood memories, school, dislocation, war, and more; interestingly, there is almost no talk of sex or romance. The spare lines are passionate, wry, irreverent, and eloquent about meaning found in daily-life scenarios. One poet describes a meditative moment with her cat that “destroys all my knitting to teach me about impermanence.” Another prays for a soldier, a “ kindergarten best friend” who has returned from Baghdad. In several selections, immigrants remember their arrival in the U.S. In a brief, appended biography, one poet describes her draw to poetry: “Unresolved, uncomfortable, and sometimes repulsive moments of memory can be made somehow graceful through writing.” Teens will connect with the passionate, unmoderated feelings that are given clarity and shape in each poem. Grades 7-12 

Suggestions for Use
As we have discussed in class, sometimes poetry is analyzed ad nauseum, and I would hate to do to much with this book.  It needs to be read and appreciated in all of its unmediated beauty.  However, I think that this book could serve as inspiration for young people to write their own poetry.  Perhaps the librarian could sponsor a poetry festival for which students would write, (pre-)submit, and read their own work (with supervision from the librarian and/or administrators).  Personally, I would seek to have some of these poets come visit my school.  Bringing such young writers and poets into the school environment would have the effect of demystifying poets and encouraging creative verbal expression from students.

Module 10: One Crazy Summer

Citation
Williams-Garcia, R.  (2010).  One Crazy Summer.  New York: Scholastic.

Summary
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern live with their father and Big Ma in Brooklyn.  During the summer of 1968, their father decides that the girls should visit their mother, Cecile, in Oakland, CA.  Cecile left the family seven years earlier, just after seven-year-old Fern had been born.  Hardly a figure of nurturing motherhood, poet Cecile bars the girls from her kitchen and sends them to get Chinese food for supper or to have breakfast at the People's Center.  Run by the Black Panthers, the People's Center provides a day camp for children where Delphine and her sisters spend most of their vacation and learn about justice, injustice, assertiveness, and revolution.  Furthermore, Cecile, known as Nzila (Inzilla to the girls, at first!) has a connection to this much-vilified group of militants.  Though the unrest and political climate of 1968 play an indispensable role in the novel's action, the primary plot centers around the unconventional relationship of the girls to their mysterious mother and their attempt to connect.

Impression
Williams-Garcia skillfully endears readers to her three young heroines.  Personally, I could find many elements of Delphine's character with which I could personally identify.  However, one of the most fascinating aspects of this book lies in the characterization of Cecile.  At first, the girls want to go home; I, too, wanted to be far away from this unpleasant person in the first half of the book.  As the story progresses, however, I find myself drawn to Nzila with compassion and sympathy.  While Williams-Garcia does not let Cecile off the hook as a mother, she very convincingly portrays a young woman who fell in over her head by having three daughters before she could rightly care for herself.  By the story's conclusion, I wanted to hug her, too.

In addition, I have been prompted by this book to research more about the Black Panthers and their role in the Civil Rights movement.  After my preliminary findings, I would be hard pressed to say that its founder, Huey Newton, aspired to the same moral high road that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., pursued (whatever their personal indiscretions); he seems to have had little compunction against inflicting physical harm to attain a political end.  However, the Black Panthers' insistent demand for justice and firm commitment to empowering African-American people and communities has made a lasting mark in American society for the better.
  
Review
Engberg, G. (2010).  One crazy summer [book review].  Booklist, 106(11), 61.  Retrieved from Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Starred Review* Eleven-year-old Delphine has only a few fragmented memories of her mother, Cecile, a poet who wrote verses on walls and cereal boxes, played smoky jazz records, and abandoned the family in Brooklyn after giving birth to her third daughter. In the summer of 1968, Delphine’s father decides that seeing Cecile is “something whose time had come,” and Delphine boards a plane with her sisters to Cecile’s home in Oakland. What they find there is far from their California dreams of Disneyland and movie stars. “No one told y’all to come out here,” Cecile says. “No one wants you out here making a mess, stopping my work.” Like the rest of her life, Cecile’s work is a mystery conducted behind the doors of the kitchen that she forbids her daughters to enter. For meals, Cecile sends the girls to a Chinese restaurant or to the local, Black Panther–run community center, where Cecile is known as Sister Inzilla and where the girls begin to attend youth programs. Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion. Set during a pivotal moment in African American history, this vibrant novel shows the subtle ways that political movements affect personal lives; but just as memorable is the finely drawn, universal story of children reclaiming a reluctant parent’s love. Grades 4-7

Ideas for Use
Without a doubt, I would use this book in a middle school book display concerning Civil Rights, social justice, or the 1960's, mixed with nonfiction offerings.  I would also use this book in studying the different approaches that King, Malcom X, Cesar Chavez, and the Black Panthers (among others) pursued in extending the boundaries of democratic ideals in America.  

Module 9: The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery

Citation
Springer, N.  (2006).  The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery.  New York: Philomel.

Summary
Enola Holmes, much younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, faces the mysterious disappearance of her mother on her birthday.  The chauvinistic Holmes brothers, long estranged from the artistic, ciper-loving Mrs. Holmes, arrive at their ancestral home ready to make Enola into a proper Victorian young lady and to pack her off to finishing school.  Though hurt by their attitude, Enola makes her own clever escape and divines from her mother's cryptic birthday gifts a wish to provide her daughter with a certain amount of freedom and independence foreign to most Victorian females.  In the process, she solves the mystery of a pampered young boy's disappearance from his estate.  Far from being a passive heroine, intelligent, sensitive, and observant Enola -- "alone" spelled backwards -- carves out her own feminine identity with spirit and aplomb despite the limits of Victorian society's expectations for upper-class women.

Impressions
Oh, how I love this book and cannot wait to read others in the series!  I have long been a fan of Sherlock, regardless of his disparaging comments about the female intellect and capacity for reason.  I have also enjoyed Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books, in particular.  The puzzle of mysteries and challenge of teasing them out excites me as a reader, as it has since I picked up my first Nancy Drew in first grade.  Far from buying Sherlock's perspective, I contend that the often highly-intuitive abilities of women bring a lot to the mystery-solving table.  Nancy Springer's invention of Enola Holmes gives brilliant voice to gender roles in Victorian society, challenges the stuffy Mycroft and Sherlock, and provides readers with a spunky, yet vulnerable character who deciphers her mother's puzzles and her own inner workings.

Review
Gray, A., et al.  (2006).  The case of the missing marquess: an Enola Holmes mystery [book review].  School Library Journal, 52(2), 137-138.  Retrieved from Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Gr 4-8-- In what is hopefully the start of an exciting new series, Missing Marquess features the intriguing, much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Enola was a late-life baby, causing something of a scandal in society. Her rather vague mother is a 64-year-old widow who disappears on Enola's 14th birthday. It takes the girl a short time to realize that her mother left her some ciphers that indicate why she went away and how she is faring. The teen reluctantly enlists the services of her adult brothers, who quickly determine that Lady Holmes has been padding the household accounts for years. When they decide that their sister belongs at a boarding school, Enola escapes and heads for London dressed as a widow. There she is able to solve a mystery involving the disappearance of young Viscount Tewksbury. She decides to stay in the city, adopting a number of disguises, and become a "Perditorian," or finder of lost things or people. Springer focuses a great deal on the restrictions placed on Victorian females by showing how unusual Enola's bravery and common sense are, even as she often struggles with conventional reactions. She wants her brothers' affection, or indeed anyone's, but knows that a socially accepted life will strictly limit her freedom and learning. Enola's loneliness, intelligence, sense of humor, and sheer pluck make her an extremely appealing heroine who hopefully will one day find the affection for which she so desperately longs.

Suggestions for use
This would be an excellent book to use in late elementary classrooms and libraries.  One use of the book would be to incorporate Enola's capacity for writing and solving ciphers into an interdisciplinary lesson: students read the book as a class and then devise their own code or cipher.  Then, students exchange these ciphers with each other and attempt to solve the codes.  Perhaps the Navajo Code Talkers could be an added dimension to this lesson as part of an integrated unit.

Module 8: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Before formally reviewing my selection for this week, I would like to say that I also took this as an opportunity to read Twilight.  I was torn between giving yet more attention to what I believe is an understandably popular but comparatively weak work of fiction and reviewing one of the other, wonderful books I had the privilege to read this week.  I chose the latter.


Citation
Pearson, M.  (2008).  The Adoration of Jenna Fox.  New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Summary

In this futuristic novel, Jenna Fox has survived a terrible car wreck in which two of her friends died.  At the age of 17, she has moved to small-town California from her lifetime home in Boston, a fact her parents explain away by telling her she needs a quieter place to recover after being in a coma for over a year.  Jenna's father heads up a biotech firm; with her grandmother's help, Jenna discovers that her miraculous survival has everything to do with her father's business, much to her horror.  Only 10% of her brain actually survived the wreck; the rest of her has been reconstructed -- minus two inches of height.  Jenna struggles with the implications of this survival, the presence (or absence) of a soul, parental expectations, new friends, and fear of being discovered by the government's agency concerning bioethics.

Impressions
Author Mary Pearson has written a fascinating, thoughtful, and challenging book.  Her depiction of Jenna, her parents, and her grandmother rings true despite its futuristic setting.  Set in the middle of the 21st century, her liberties with time and science are not unfathomable, rendering the book all the more believable.  Nanobots are currently a hot issue in biotechnology; characters discuss past controversies regarding the over-prescription of antibiotics, drug-resistant pathogens, and the money and influence of pharmaceutical companies which prompted, around the turn of the millennium, the establishment of the Federal Sciences Ethics Board (FSEB).

I sincerely enjoyed this book and its exploration of the subjects involved.  Jenna's complex boyfriend, Ethan, helps weave a strain of Thoreau throughout the novel -- exploring what it means to "suck the marrow out of life."  Jenna's earthy grandmother, Lily, provides a foil to her loving, but perfection-oriented parents, Matthew and Claire; one of the conclusions of the book is that "Faith and science...are two sides of the same coin, separated by an expanse so small, but wide enough that one side can't see the other.  They don't even know they're connected.  Father and Lily were two sides of the same coin, I've decided, and maybe I am the space in between" (p. 263).  Pearson has attempted to plumb foreseeable questions raised by biomedical developments, but in doing so, she skillfully communicates the humanity (no matter what percent) and complexity of her characters.

Review
Gallagher, G.  (2008).  The adoration of Jenna Fox [book review].  Library Media Connection, 27(3), 79.  Retrieved from Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma and finds she has lost a year of her life. Her memories of her life before the accident are barely a whisper and she has to learn how to be Jenna Fox all over again. Her mother gives her video recordings to watch, one for each year of her life, and it is clear that Jenna has been her parents’ whole world. As she gets stronger, she senses that something is very wrong. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as, through this first-person narrative, Jenna unravels her own mysteries. The California setting is brilliantly created as a future that has enough connection to present-day issues and events that it makes readers believe it all just might be possible. The questions raised surrounding bioethics, what makes us human, and the potential direction of science and medicine lend themselves perfectly to classroom discussions in both science and civics. Jenna’s voice will appeal to all readers, even those who don’t typically read science fiction. The book’s Web site has a trailer to share with reluctant readers which, along with the beautiful cover, should have them hooked. Highly Recommended. 2008, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 272pp., $16.95 hc. Ages 12 to 18.

Suggestion for use
As someone who would like to see literature used across the curriculum, this would be a fabulous book to read for a biology class.  Were I a secondary librarian, I would promote this book among biology teachers as an excellent discussion starter regarding bioethics.  Even more ideally, English teachers and biology teachers could collaborate upon a unit regarding this book.  In groups, students could research nanobots, drug-resistant streptococcal bacteria, stem cells, transplantation, drug companies, etc. and provide short presentations to their biology classes regarding these issues while reading this book in English classes.  Teachers could lead discussions prompting students to think about the possible implications or future effects of these current issues in relationship to the plot of The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

Module 7: As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth

Citation

Perkins, L.  (2010).  As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth.  New York: Greenwillow.

Summary

On the way to a summer camp, Ry misses his train in the middle of Montana.  His grandfather, taking care of the dogs at home, has fallen into a sinkhole in Wisconsin.  His parents are sailing around the Caribbean.  Ry walks to the nearest town and meets Del, a middle-aged jack-of-all-trades.  Ry and Del embark on a cross-country and international adventure to find Ry's family.  The story culminates when Ry and Del sail to St. Jeroen, Del injures himself riding a windmill, and Ry must make the last leg of the trip to find his parents alone.

Impressions

I had very high expectations for this story after reading Lynne Rae Perkins' Criss Cross.  Despite moments of brilliance, such as when Del and Ry hitch a ride with escaped elderly Carl in an Oldsmobile, this story somehow misses its mark for me.  I would not say that it lacks a plot, but the plot rambles along with "an unusually large number of things going wrong."  I liked the book, but I did not feel a strong kinship with the characters.  In retrospect, they have grown on me.  However, the illustrations of this book, so well-integrated into Criss Cross, seemed to break its flow rather than to enhance it. 

Review

Chipman, I.  (2010).  As easy as falling of the face of the earth [book review].  Booklist, 106(16), 45.  Retrieved from Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Ry opens a letter en route to a summer program informing him that camp has been canceled because “a statistically improbable number of things have gone wrong.“ He hops off the train in Montana to figure out what to do, and his own series of improbable misfortunes begins—the train moves on without him (but with all his stuff), leaving him alone with a dying cell phone in the precise middle of nowhere. Oh, and one of his shoes just floated off down a river. He befriends a man named Del, who figures there’s nothing he can’t fix (when it comes to other people’s problems, anyway). They set off on a cross-country road trip to get Ry back home and then, due to any number of minor and major catastrophes, to an island in the Caribbean. Ever-placid Del and milquetoast Ry make for affable traveling companions, but the real pleasure is Perkins’ relentlessly entertaining writing. She dabbles just on the clever side of intruding on the narrative, and she infuses her prose with more personality than many could squeeze out of an entire cast. The knock against her Newbery-winning Criss Cross (2006) was a lack of plot, and although a lot of things happen here, it would be a stretch to call this leisurely novel plot-driven. The point is that it doesn’t matter, and wallowing in the wry humor, small but potent truths, and cheerful implausibility is an absolute delight. Grades 8-11

Suggestions for Use

I could see this book as being one part of an interdisciplinary unit.  The travels would be interesting and fun to map out as a class.  This could lead to discussion about traveling, internally and externally.  How do Del and Ry change on their trip?  What trips have students made that changed them or gave them a new perspective?  Why?

Module 5: Jellicoe Road, Michael L. Printz Award, 2007

Citation
Marchetta, M.  (2006).  Jellicoe Road.  New York: HarperTeen.


Summary
Jellicoe Road tells the story of boarding school student Taylor Markham, interspersed with snippets from the fragmented past of her guardian, Hannah Schroeder.  The novel, written by Australian Marchetta, ties together the present and past stories with abundant twists and turns.  The somber and tragic tone of the story is offset, at times, by dry teenage humor.  The mystery of Taylor's abandonment by her mother, somehow bound up with Hannah's own story, unravels through an adventure with her boyfriend, Jonah Griggs.  

Impression
This book very squarely falls into the category of young adult fiction, for its language, mild sexual content, and heavy -- and I mean heavy -- subject matter.  A horrific car wreck on Jellicoe Road results in the deaths of 5 people: two sets of parents and a sister.  The three surviving children form bonds with two other individuals, one who helped them out of the wreckage.  Depression, suicide, arson, and drug addiction (rendered sympathetically but with negative consequences) all comprise major elements of the plot.  A subplot involving a serial killer seemed a little over-the-top considering all of the other stuff going on in the book.

All in all, I found this to be an interesting and compelling story.  I do have to say that I felt that the plot and action were rather heavy-handed (in addition to being heavy in content) at times.  Overall, I really liked the book and felt a great deal of sympathy for the edgy characters.

Review
Adams, L.  (2007).  Jellicoe Road [book review].  Horn Book Magazine, 84(6), 708.  Retrieved from EBSCOhost

"Two tragic stories—one past, one present—come together in this carefully constructed novel set in the Australian bush. Seventeen-year-old Taylor Markham has just been made leader of the Jellicoe School’s “Underground” during the annual territory wars with the townies and the cadets. Taylor arrived at the school at age eleven when her mother dumped her at the local 7-11 and she was taken in by Hannah, voluntary caretaker of the school’s neediest students. Interspersed with war maneuvers, negotiations, and Taylor’s hotly charged meetings with cadet leader Jonah Griggs are excerpts from Hannah’s unfinished novel about three teenaged survivors of a horrific car wreck on Jellicoe Road years earlier. The three survivors, and the lifelong bonds they formed with the townie who rescued them and the cadet who befriended them, have everything to do with Taylor; together with broken memories of life with her drug-addicted mother and dream visits from a mysterious boy, Hannah’s story helps Taylor piece together the truth about her past and determine who she will become. Despite grief piled on grief in the personal histories of the characters, they are all firmly bound by friend- ship and love. Suspenseful plotting, slowly unraveling mysteries, and generations of romance shape the absorbing novel."

Suggestions for use  
I would recommend this title for high school collections.  It would be a difficult book to use for anything cutesy or creative: the plot is simply too heavy, and it deserves more sophisticated treatment.  I could see a librarian using this book for a lively and interesting book club discussion.  A comparison between Jellicoe Road and The Hunger Games would be interesting, though the settings are obviously different.  I see similarities between the female protagonists, Taylor and Katniss.  Both are tough characters on the outside trying to survive impossible circumstances.

Module 4: Criss Cross, Newbery 2006

Citation
Perkins, L.  (2005).  Criss Cross.  New York: Greenwillow Books.

Summary
Lynne Rae Perkins' Criss Cross tells the story of Debbie, Hector, and Lenny, three junior-high students, as they tackle the hurdle of identity during adolescence.  Their three stories weave in and out of the narrative, only to coalesce finally at a neighborhood luau with the reappearance of Debbie's necklace.  The book contains Perkins' own pen-and-ink illustrations.

Impression
First of all, I loved this book and its subtle humor (a passage on the sanitary napkin industry, for example, made me laugh until my sides ached).  Perkins has a knack for communicating poignant moments without being maudlin.  The imagery, analogies, and keen observations she incorporates into Criss Cross will stay with me as examples of excellent writing.  However, what lingers with me after reading this book is Perkins' characters.  Debbie, Hector, Lenny, their friends, and their acquaintances are rendered with care.  Perkins paints even the neighborhood jock, Dan Persik, with shades of complexity as he plays with girls' hearts, steals the attention of Hector's crush, insensitively occupies bus seats, and forthrightly makes a man who lost his legs during war feel comfortable at a bus stop.  The way that the characters try to connect with one another -- sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, but always trying -- communicates a deep and resonant humanity which will touch the heart and mind of willing readers.

Review
Hepperman, C.  (2005).  Criss cross [book review].  Horn Book Magazine, 81(5), 585-586.  Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Catching fireflies in a jar, fourteen-year-old Debbie (first met in Perkins’s spectacular debut novel All Alone in the Universe, rev. 9/99) watches the bugs’ “glow parts go on and off,” appeasing her guilt over capturing them by convincing herself that “once they were free, their small, basic brains
would . . . have no memory of being imprisoned.”
Perkins’s wonderfully contemplative and relaxed yet captivating second novel, again 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. Like All Alone in the Universe, the story is set in a 1970s small town, but teen readers won’t have to be aware of the time period to feel connected to Debbie, Hector, Lenny, and the rest as the third-person narrative floats back and forth between their often humorous, gradually evolving perspectives. The book’s title refers to a radio show that the neighborhood teens listen to on Saturday evenings; on a thematic level, it also refers to those barely perceptible moments of missed communication between a boy and a girl, a parent and a child, when “something might have happened” but didn’t. In keeping with Perkins’s almost Zen-like tone, such flubbed opportunities are viewed as unfortunate but not tragic. “Maybe it was another time that their moments would meet.” Like a lazy summer day, the novel induces that exhilarating feeling that one has all the time in the world.

Suggestions for Use
I must say that I am hard-pressed to say how this book should be "used" in the library setting.  It is the sort of book which deserves to be savored in some cozy spot.  It would definitely be a book I would highlight in a display showcasing more recent Newbery winner.  I would find some student readers to pioneer a reading of this book and get their reviews on it, as well.  I could see it figuring prominently in a book club discussion of the effectiveness of illustrations in novels.  I think it might be fun for students inclined to do so to verbally sketch out an event in their own lives and to provide accompanying illustrations in the same style.