Criss Cross

by Lynne Rae Perkins

  In the first chapter, Debbie of Insulbrick’s mother would be saying, “Why do you always send the first carrier pigeon message? Why doesn’t Maureen ever send one to you, first? They have pigeons, too, don’t they?”

  Debbie would breathe an inward sigh of exasperation with her mother for expecting Maureen always to do the same things that ordinary people might do, like make phone calls. I mean, send carrier pigeon messages. But aloud Debbie would just say, “She does, sometimes.”

  Which I think was true, before last summer. Before last summer Maureen and I were best friends.

  I know we were in May.

  I’m positive we were, in April. At least I think we were. I don’t know what happened exactly.

  As people who get hit by trucks sometimes say, “I didn’t see anything coming.”

  About the Author

  Lynne Rae Perkins is the author of Criss Cross, winner of the 2006 Newbery Medal. Her first novel, All Alone in the Universe, was named an ALA Notable Book, an ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, and a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children. She is also the author of several picture books, including Pictures from Our Vacation, The Broken Cat, and Snow Music, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and a Book Sense Top Ten Pick. Lynne Rae Perkins lives with her family in northern Michigan.

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  Praise for

  Criss Cross

  A National Bestseller!

  “[A] quirky, delightful novel."— KLIATT(starred review)

  “Brilliantly captures the adolescent-level Zen that thoughtful kids bring to their assessment of the world.”

  —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

  “Best of all are the understated moments, often private and piercing in their authenticity, that capture intelligent, likable teens searching for signs of who they are, and who they’ll become.”

  —ALA Booklist (starred review)

  “Written with humor and modest bits of philosophy, the writing sparkles with inventive, often dazzling metaphors.”

  —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  “Like a lazy summer day, the novel induces that exhilarating feeling that one has all the time in the world.”

  —The Horn Book (starred review)

  “[A] gentle story about a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they wish to live it. Young teens will certainly relate to the self-consciousnesses and uncertainty of all the characters.”

  —School Library Journal (starred review)

  “Part love story, part coming-of-age tale.” —Publishers Weekly

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  Harper Trophy® is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Criss Cross Copyright © 2005 by Lynne Rae Perkins

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-06290-1

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Perkins, Lynne Rae.

  Criss Cross / by Lynne Rae Perkins,

  p. cm.

  “Greenwillow Books.”

  Summary: Teenagers in a small town experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.

  ISBN: 978-0-06-009272-6 (trade bdg.)

  ISBN: 978-0-06-009273-3 (lib. bdg.)

  ISBN: 978-0-06-009274-0 (pbk.)

  [1. Identity—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.P4313Cr 2005 [Fic]—dc22 2004054023

  * * *

  Revised Harper Trophy edition, 2008

  09 10 11 12 13 CG/CW 10 9 8

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