The Crossover

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, Kwame. 2014. The Crossover. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 9780544107717

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Twelve year old identical twins, Josh and Jordan (JB) Bell, are talented middle school basketball stars. Their dad is a former professional basketball player, and their mother is their school principal. They have always been incredibly close, but after a new girl starts attending their school, JB enters a relationship and Josh suddenly feels left out. Josh begins to misbehave, and after causing a serious injury to his brother on the basketball court, his parents ground him from the team. As the team’s winning streak continues, Josh goes out of his way to try and earn the favor of his brother and parents in order to be able to play again. Unfortunately, the family drama continues when the boys’ dad suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized. Josh eventually makes it back onto the court, but prior to the championship game, his father has a setback and dies which sadly is what leads to the boys’ eventual reconciliation.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This novel in verse, is filled with beautiful poems that vary from rhythmic and rhyming to moving, concrete lines told primarily from the voice of Josh Bell. The main characters are twin brothers who are inseparable until a girl catches JB’s eye. The angst of a middle school crush and the devastation of being left out by your best friend are eloquently captured through each poem. The family dynamics that are described are also very realistic and move from concern over their father’s health, to anger over Josh’s actions, and then the grief of an almost unbearable loss. The setting is modern day and could take place in just about any town nationwide. I got the sense that it was probably in the South, perhaps North Carolina based on some Duke references. The primary theme of this book is about the love and support of a family during all of the changes and challenges of life. After all of the conflict between the brothers, the bond that they have remains unbreakable. Even though JB may still harbor some anger and Josh may still be somewhat jealous, they will always be there to support one another.

Overall, I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. The beginning poems were rather unexpected because of their rhyme and beat, and I admit that it took focusing through several poems before I found my own reading rhythm to match the book’s style. While there are a tremendous amount of basketball references, one does not have to be a basketball fan or even have basketball knowledge to understand the book’s content. This is simply a book about all of the beautiful imperfections of a real American family.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2015 NEWBERY AWARD WINNER

2015 Coretta Scott King Honor

2015 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor for Outstanding Fiction for Children

2015 Penn State/Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

2015 Paterson Poetry Prize for Young People's Literature

From School Library Journal: “Underscoring the sports and the fraternal tension is a portrait of a family that truly loves and supports one another. Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heart and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk.”

From Booklist: “Alexander eloquently mashes up concrete poetry, hip-hop, a love of jazz, and a thriving family bond. The effect is poetry in motion. It is a rare verse novel that is fundamentally poetic rather than using this writing trend as a device. There is also a quirky vocabulary element that adds a fun intellectual note to the narrative. This may be just the right book for those hard-to-match youth who live for sports or music or both.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other novels in verse such as:

•                      Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. ISBN 0399252517

•                      Engle, Margarita. Mountain Dog. ISBN 1250044243

•                      Creech, Sharon. Hate that Cat. ISBN 0061430943

Gather other Kwame Alexander books to read such as:

•                     Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. ISBN 1585366889

•                     He said, She said. ISBN 006211896X

•                     Crush: Love Poems for Teenagers. ISBN 1499364784

•                     Booked. ISBN 0544570987 (coming April 2016)

Use in a unit on various types of poetry.

Use in connection with a sports themed unit.