The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Alexander, K. (2014). The crossover. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Twelve-year-old Josh Bell, aka Filthy McNasty, is a basketball phenom. He aims to be the next Kevin Durant or LeBron James. His twin brother Jordan is just as good and idolizes another great, Michael Jordan. The boys inherited their love of the game from the father, a former professional basketball player, Chuck “Da Man” Bell. Everything is going great, the team is on their way to the championship and it seems that these boys just cannot be stopped. Then a new girl in school catches Jordan’s attention and leaves Josh feeling more alone than ever. As if that wasn’t enough, mom seems very concerned about their father’s health and the boys are starting to wonder if maybe they should be worried. This story of family relationships, sibling dynamics and middle school drama is brilliantly told in a poetic form that upper elementary students and middle schoolers will not want to put down. A great recommendation for reluctant readers!
In addition to family relationships the overriding theme of this story is basketball. It’s what the men in this family live for. If they’re not out on the court destroying other middle school teams, they’re shooting free throws in the driveway or hanging out at the rec center organizing games. Alexander even uses the structure of basketball to divide the story into “quarters” rather than chapters and delivers life lessons in the form of “basketball rules.” Novel-in-verse is the style of this book and Alexander does an amazing job of weaving in all the excitement of game play-by-plays to Josh’s inner struggles with his life and family in a form that is pure poetry in motion.
Time for Kids Interview with Kwame Alexander
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