Overview

"Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Review Quotes: ""This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. . . . Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch."" --""Kirkus, "" starred review ""Alexander fully captures Josh's athletic finesse and coming-of-age angst in a mix of free verse and hip-hop poetry that will have broad appeal. . . . This will inspire budding players and poets alike."" --""Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, ""starred review ""The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh's sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worth triumph to profound pain."" --""Publishers Weekly, ""starred review"

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9781664539006

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Reviews

"""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."" -- ""Booklist"" ""Alexander fully captures Josh's athletic finesse and coming-of-age angst in a mix of free verse and hip-hop poetry that will have broad appeal...This will inspire budding players and poets alike."" -- ""Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)"" ""Alexander's lyrical free verse and Corey Allen's musical narration are as magical a combination as this story's pairing of basketball and poetry. Allen blends rhyming, hip-hop, and jazzy words into a melodic flow. His tones switch like a fast-changing crossover dribble as he narrates from the viewpoint of thirteen-year-old Jordan Bell...Allen maintains the tension throughout the sibling rivalry, athletic competition, and sudden tragedy. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Concrete poems that simulate on-court action, the novel's organization into 'four quarters' (plus 'warm-up' and 'overtime') and a smattering of their father's ten rules of basketball--as applicable to life as they are to the game--will draw in less avid readers, and the fully-fleshed characters and Josh's spellbinding wordplay will keep all readers riveted to find out if the brothers can mend the breach in their once iron-clad bond."" -- ""Shelf Awareness"" ""Josh is a likable, funny, and authentic character. 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."" -- ""School Library Journal (starred review)"" ""Josh is growing up and crossing over, the hard way. While the story is compelling enough, what makes this verse novel excel is the poetry itself. The language paces the novel. Basketball games are succinctly captured in quick, staccato rhythms; languid free verse makes waiting for his punishment seem endless. Almost every page is an example of this synergy between diction and discourse. This book will appeal to both fans of basketball and fans of poetry. Teachers will love using this book for teaching language usage and vocabulary since much of the chapters are structured as definitions of words in the context of Josh's story. This quick read is highly recommended."" -- ""VOYA"" ""Kwame Alexander's beautifully measured novel...is written in verse, but have no fear: Here, poetry is in service to the interior and exterior worlds of Josh, who plays forward to JB's shooting guard...Basketball is the novel's red-hot engine. It is the glue connecting the sons and source of the wisdom their father passes down...The biggest surprise of The Crossover is that, for all the bells and whistles of a young man's game, it is most boldly and certainly a book about tenderness."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh's sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worth triumph to profound pain."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" ""This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships...Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"""

Author Information

"Kwame Alexander is the New York Times Bestselling author of 32 books, including The Undefeated; How to Read a Book; Solo; Swing; Rebound, which was shortlisted for prestigious Carnegie Medal; and his Newbery medal-winning middle grade novel, The Crossover. He's also the founding editor of Versify, an imprint that aims to Change the World One Word at a Time. Visit him at KwameAlexander.com Corey Allen, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has been labeled by artistic collaborators as a ""journeyman"" and ""chameleon-like"" actor, relentless in his pursuit of truth and transformation in his work. As a voiceover artist, his talents have been heard in sound plays, commercial copy, industrial and documentary films, and many audiobooks. He is based in New York City and is a founding member of Coyote REP. He holds a BA from the University of California-Irvine and an MFA from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign."

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