Criss Cross
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · 780L (~4th grade) · 337 pages · 2005
Why we'd hand it over
A Newbery winner that rewards re-reading; the fractured vignette structure mirrors how pre-adolescent attention actually works, and Perkins captures the precise ache of wanting connection without sentimentalizing it.