Module 6 Book Review #1: The Crossover

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*This book review was written for a MLS course at SHSU.*

Image result for the crossover kwame alexander

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, Kwame. (2014). THE CROSSOVER. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780544107717

PLOT SUMMARY
Josh and Jordan Bell are twins and the star athletes on their middle school basketball team. They get their talent from their dad, who use to be a professional basketball player back in the days. Life seems to be going by so well, that is until Jordan starts dating a girl and begins to forget about Josh and even leave him behind at times. At the same time, his dad is sick and is prone to having heart attacks. With all this stress and feeling like a loner, Josh doesn’t know what to do, especially since everything use to only just be about basketball and winning.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
First of all, The Crossoveris beautifully written in verse. This makes the whole story’s plot more poetic and emotional. It starts off with Josh Bell believing that things are going so smoothly for his family, especially since basketball is what they usually bond over with. However, as time progresses, different problems start to arise, and the verses seem to be a representation of how Josh’s thoughts were while going through them all. He feels frustrated, alone, and lost at times. The rhythm doesn’t make his thoughts seem scattered, but rather flow all at once since he does not know what to expect in most situations. 

Readers do not need to be basketball fans to fully enjoy this novel. This story highlights many more realistic factors, such as family, growing up, and health issues. Readers can relate to Josh’s emotional rollercoaster when he starts to feel separated and left behind when it came to his twin brother. This helped represent that time indeed goes on, and the people around us tend to change at different points in their lives. Josh had a hard time hiding how he felt, so he did some things that hurt his brother and their relationship. Josh realized he was wrong, and even though it took some time, his twin brother was still there for him, simply showing that family will always be there for you no matter what happens. In addition to his twin brother, the author did an amazing job showing how his father was always supportive of their dreams and goals. Unfortunately, the father did not take care of his health issues in a timely manner. The boys were sad about his death, but they also knew that he wanted the best for his boys, and he wanted them to always be there for each other and to keep pushing each other in basketball.

Finally, Josh and Jordan were strong, black male lead characters. This notation of diversity is what all contemporary realistic texts need. Readers go through different experiences and have different backgrounds; therefore, it is nice for them to have books with characters that look like them and are relatable. Kwame Alexander does an excellent job of doing this in The Crossover. For example, there is one part when Josh’s dad gets pulled over by the cops. Josh’s mind was thinking about how they were going to be late for his game, but it was also thinking about the difficulties of this situation; therefore, he was sitting there and praying his dad wouldn’t get arrested at that moment. This is very realistic, for readers hear about this type of problem happen all the time either through the news or through social media. That is some children’s reality, and just because they are kids, does not mean these types of things cannot be represented in the texts they read.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
*2015 Newbery Medal Winner
*2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner
*Publishers WeeklyStarred Review: “The verse novel delivers a real emotional punch before the final buzzer.”
*Kirkus Reviews Starred Review: “The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.”
*School Library JournalStarred Review: “Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heart and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk.” 

CONNECTIONS
*Booked and Reboundare the other two books in The Crossover series. They are also verse novels. Booked is about a different middle school character, but also highlight a sport (soccer) and several obstacles a typical middle school might go through. Rebound, however, is the prequel to The Crossover, in which it is about Chuck, Josh and Jordan’s father, in his early basketball years.
*The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life”is another book by Kwame Alexander. Since The Crossoverhad a lot of references to basketball whenever the protagonist went through obstacles, this book would be a nice companion text. In it, readers will find visual aids and various inspirational quotes from well-known leaders and athletes.
*The Crossover is a verse novel. An activity that students can do after reading the book is write their own stories in verse. Their stories can be based off of life experiences, and they can compare and contrast them to a sport or activity they enjoy and are really familiar with.

 PICTURE SOURCE
https://www.amazon.com/Crossover-Kwame-Alexander/dp/0544107713

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