Book Review: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Book Review:  The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Goodreads.com

The Crossover has been on my radar for a while now and I am grateful that it was available at our local library to check out.  

Summary by Goodreads:

"With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering, "" announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander ("He Said, She Said" 2013).


Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.

My Thoughts: 

One of my goals in 2015 is to stretch myself as a reader and read more "boy" books.  This book is not a hard read, but definitely stretches my reading since the protagonist is Josh Bell and it focuses on his relationship with his twin brother, Jordan Bell, and their father.  The main theme running through this novel is basketball.  The boys both play basketball and their father was once a professional basketball player in the European League.  Basketball consumes all over their lives. This story also is about family, brotherhood, jealousy, first love, relationships, and growing up.

I am not always a fan of poetry, but I LOVED how this story was told in verse.  Each poem is told in Josh's voice and takes us through the basketball season as the boys are attempting to win the championship.  I enjoyed that Alexander changed up the style of poetry throughout the novel.  There was some free verse,  list poetry, and my favorite - the definition poetry.  Here are two of my favorites:

       

I could easily see using many of these poems as mentor texts and models for quick writes in the classroom.  

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel.  Definitely more of a middle school book (or middle grade read aloud) than YA, but worth reading anyways!