I first discovered Kwame Alexander when I stumbled upon his newest middle grade book, Booked, which was on my library’s display shelf. I talked about this book a few weeks back, but today I wanted to talk about another Kwame Alexander book called The Crossover, which was a 2015 Newbery Medal winner and also a 2015 Loretta Scott King Honor Award winner. The Crossover is written in verse, just like Booked, but in a much different style and with a much different story.
Twelve-year-old Josh Bell and his identical twin brother, Jordan, are basketball stars in their middle school. Josh fancies himself a rapper, and during game times, the poetry he produces has the flow of a spoken song. It’s fantastic.
The Crossover tells the story of Josh and Jordan, who are coming to terms with growing up and falling in love and trying to discover who they are outside of each other. It’s full of emotion and angst and has the kind of climax that you won’t ever forget.
When I talked about Booked, I mentioned that I probably won’t let early readers read that one. The same is true with The Crossover, but for different reasons. While Booked contained some words I wasn’t comfortable with my younger readers reading, The Crossover contains some mature content like death and romance, which my 9-year-old isn’t really all that interested in yet. But this one will probably be on his summer reading list next year, because, in our house, we have identical twins, and I loved how much insight The Crossover provided for that bond between brothers and, especially, how that bond changes as they begin to grow into their own separate people.
If you can’t already tell, I absolutely loved this book. Josh and Jordan were such likable kids, and I enjoyed the banter between the two when they were out on the court and ribbing each other, talking trash that didn’t really mean anything because it was all done in love. Josh’s voice was smart and engaging and, most of all, lovable. The book was a fast read and included some phenomenal poems about a thing you don’t usually think could look much like poetry—sports. Alexander did a wonderful job of bringing basketball to life with Josh.
There are too many quotes from this book to read them all, but here is one of my favorites:
“Sometimes it’s the things that aren’t said
that kill you.”
It’s true, isn’t it? Silence is the worst. And Josh has to deal with silence when he and his brother get into a pretty epic fight and don’t speak to each other for a while.
I hope you enjoyed this book recommendation. Be sure to visit my recommendation page to see some of my best book recommendations. If you have any books you recently read that you think I’d enjoy, get in touch. And, if you’re looking for some new books to read, stop by my starter library, where you can get a handful of my books for free.
*The book mentioned above have affiliate links attached to them, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on them and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
