The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

 ​The Crossover, by award-winning children’s book author and poet Kwame Alexander, was published in 2014. It won the 2015 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award Honor for children’s literature. Rebound, a prequel to The Crossover, was published in 2018. 12-year-old African American Josh Bell narrates The Crossover in verse. 

​his stories dribble down the page much like he dribbles the ball on a basketball court with his brother Jordan at six feet tall. They are both known as “The Twins” because of their height and they play for their father Chuck who is also an NBA legend (Charles “Da Man” Bell). 

Excerpt by the book, Crossover

 From the first poem, “Dribbling,” readers get a sense of Josh’s playful voice like a basketball. He uses words to create fluid movements and quick changes on the page that represent his game.  

 ​The rhymes and syllables of his poems have a magic that makes the letters look like dribbling a basketball from a distance. And the tone of his poetry is as light and powerful as a basketball bouncing on the floor.

  About Author : Kwame Alexander is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction. His verse novel The Crossover won the 2015 Newbery Medal recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." It was also selected as an Honor book for the Coretta Scott King Award.

  This book describes the process of a boy understanding his father through basketball, resolving conflicts with his brothers, finding self-confidence, and discovering himself using language as if playing basketball in a basketball arena.

 If there was a prejudice that poetry must be philosophical, it must be pleasant to hear, and that only a poet can write and interpret poetry because it has a depth that ordinary people cannot understand, you will be able to create an opportunity to come closer to poetry by reading this book. 

 ​ In fact, this book was written and published by the author for 11 and 18 year olds. However, if there is a question about whether poetry can write a poem that draws a lot of sympathy to young people on the subject of sports, I recommend that adults who have such a question read it at least once.