Puzzling prize-winning books

Children and prize judges don't always agree. Slice-of-life stories, for example, rank low on the list of kid favorites -- kids tend to be bored by these conflict-deficient stories that show ordinary events in the ordinary life of an ordinary person.

Curiously, the American Library Association awarded two out of three major children's book prizes to slice-of-life books -- the 2006 Caldecott Medal winner for excellence in illustration is "The Hello, Goodbye Window" by Norton Juster and Chris Raschka (Hyperion, $15.95, ages 4-7) and the 2006 Newbery Medal winner for novel is "Criss Cross" by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow, $16.99, ages 11-14). My prediction is that the prize-winner that will most please children is John Green's "Looking for Alaska" (Penguin, $15.99, ages 13 and up), which won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Unlike the others, this book has the strong conflict and plot children love.

Norton Juster is the author of one of the most inventive novels ever written, "The Phantom Tollbooth" (Yearling, $6.50, ages 8 to adult). This is not the case with his recent picture book, "The Hello, Goodbye Window." His bio in the back of the book tells us he's a retired architect, retired teacher and a "just warming up" grandfather. Perhaps that inexperience explains the lack of imagination in this small story praising the everyday magic that happens when a grandchild spends time with doting grandparents.

The story's focus is the kitchen window, which is really a window on the world, showing happenings outside in the garden and mirroring the joys that take place in the cozy kitchen. There is little more than that to this slice-of-life story. Of course, the Caldecott Medal honors illustrations and Chris Raschka's work here is noteworthy. Sunny yellows and tranquil blues fill the pages, representing the happy, calm home. Raschka's looseness of line well-represents the free-wheeling fun of the relationship. Illustration and story work well to convey mood and affection, but though warm, this is far from a classic picture book children will read again and again.

Lynne Rae Perkins' "Criss Cross" is a triumph of form over substance. It is not surprising that this creative and beautifully written book won over the judges, but I doubt this slow, meandering novel will have the same success with young adult readers. "Criss Cross" is not one, but four coming-of-age stories. Such novels are usually packed with drama. Instead, this book shows us the ennui and longing of teens waiting for life to start. The characters are connected by a series of missed connections, hence the title, "Criss Cross."

Life is slow in Seldem. The characters sunbathe, learn to play a guitar or gather in a parked truck to listen to a wacky radio show called "Criss Cross." Small events receive big attention, such as the almost paragraph-length sentence describing two cups of spilling coffee. "The hot coffee tended, because of the principle of inertia, to remain where it was even when the cups moved on, so that with each thrust, splats of hot, homeless coffee fell (gravity) onto Hector's shoulder, his head, his other shoulder."

The unnamed narrator begins the book by telling us that one heroine, Debbie, "wished something would happen" and readers soon share that desire. Perkins' writing is the book's strength. It is poetic, philosophical, Zen-like as she describes thoughtful teen characters contemplating molecular movement or wondering about the ways of the world. She fills her text with vignettes about quirky characters that plant little seeds of wisdom.