Criss Cross - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6

Book excerpt: Students get insight into themselves while reading about this group of teenagers' journey to self-discovery. Incorporate a variety of challenging questions dealing with opinions of the reader as well as asking for evidence from the text to support those opinions. Come up with reasons why most people tend to be reluctant to speak their mind. Identify what motivated Pastor Don to give free guitar lessons. Students find quotations that may appear next to their picture in a yearbook and reflect on how it applies to them. Write complete sentences using vocabulary words found in the text. Design an information card for the Rhododendron plant. List the main events from the novel in the order in which they happened on a Sequence Chart. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Criss Cross is a Newbery Medal-winning story about several teenage characters living in the small town of Seldem in the 1970s. The story intersects between several characters, each with their own issues and each one trying to discover who they are as individuals. There is the shy, introspective Debbie; the multitalented Lenny; the nerdy, guitar-playing Hector; and the brainy, all-together sister of Hector, Rowanne. Criss Cross is a story that deals with first love, the importance of communication among friends and family, self-identity, and coming-of-age. Each character is portrayed in a refreshingly unique and poignant manner, creating a novel that is both humorous and thought-provoking throughout.