Do you remember the name of a book I read in high school? It had a girl in it named Meadow, a chapter about a Tastee-Freeze, maybe a kid that liked to take things apart and put them back together, and a radio show. I remember weird details, but nothing of substance, not even the main character's name! And I liked the book a lot, so if you have any idea what I'm talking about, please help.

McGruff

I've found a book titled "Criss Cross" that has a character named Meadow in it. I'll look for something better, but here is a review of it. I suppose you might say there are two main characters in this story. First, there's Debra (Debbie), an imaginative, wishful and thoughtful girl. Some of her favorite pastimes are helping elderly Mrs. Bruning around the house (and consequently meeting and falling for Mrs. Bruning's handsome grandson, Peter Bruning, later in the book), hanging out with her neighbourhood friends, and speculating over things (usually nothing at all). Then, there's Hector, a slightly pudgy adolescent boy who sees a guitarist and is inspired to learn how to play. Taking lessons from a Presbyterian minister with a few others is how he meets a young girl named Meadow and develops a hopeless crush on her, hopeless because the striking, football-playing Dan Persik is interested in her as well. Debbie loses her necklace, which is found by a few different people, all of whom make an effort to get it back to her, but in the end of the story... Well, now you'll have to read it. http://newberryproject.blogspot.com/2007/08/criss-cross.html Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins Publisher Comments: Debbie is wishing something would happen. Something good. To her. Soon. In the meantime, Debbie loses a necklace and finds a necklace (and boy does the necklace have a story to tell), she goes jeans shopping with her mother (an accomplishment in diplomacy), she learns to drive shift in a truck (illegally), she saves a life (directly connected to being able to drive, thus proving something), she takes a bus ride to another town (in order to understand what it feels like to be from "elsewhere"), she meets a boy (who truly is from "elsewhere"), but mostly she hangs out with her friends: Patty, Hector, Lenny, and Phil. Their paths cross. Their stories crisscross. And in Lynne Rae Perkins's remarkable book, a girl and her wish grow up. Illustrated throughout with black–and–white pictures, comics, and photographs by the author. Ages 10+ http://www.powells.com/biblio/0060092726 It's looking better. They listen to the radio. This book is about one 60s-era summer in the lives of an assortment of very nice small-town teens. Just like a real small-town summer for teens, not very much happens. Life is pleasingly slow and languid. They listen to the radio, wonder about the opposite sex and about themselves, hang out, talk, grow a little, change a bit, come to a few understandings they didn't have before. That's pretty much it. One boy is inspired by a college coffeehouse to take some guitar lessons in the basement of the church. A girl befriends and helps out an elderly woman. Paths cross, connections are made, or missed. It's real life, lyrically rendered. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/Criss-Cross.html Feb 22 10, 10:38 PM

kevinatilusa

Doing a search inside the book at Amazon.com reveals lots of references to Tastee-Freez too! Feb 23 10, 12:47 AM

IAmTheWalrus15

Awesome its criss-cross thanks. Feb 24 10, 11:24 PM