THE CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander ~ Culture 2

THE CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander

Author: Kwame Alexander

Title:  The Crossover

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication Date: 2014

ISBN:  9780544107717

Plot Summary

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.

Critical Analysis

This is a wonderful example of current, modern African-American young adult literature that breaks up the steady stream of historical African-American literature on the market today. The Crossover depicts an affluent African-American family that values education, family and basketball (although the twin 8^th grade boys in the story would prefer the order to be basketball, family, basketball, education, and more basketball).

Written in prose, this is a fast-moving story that flies through a few months in the lives of 8^th grade twins Josh and JB. Alexander’s use of irregular verse in hip-hop rhyme grabs the reader’s attention from page one. You feel like you are on the court, dribbling a basketball during a pickup game.

In addition to the emphasis on family and education, other African-American literature indicators include physical attributes: Josh prides himself on his dreadlocks (“I knew one day I’d need my own wings to fly”) and mourns their loss when his brother cuts them off. Another cultural indicator is food: Da Man Chuck Bell loves fried chicken and there are several references to home cooking, donuts, and sweet potato pie.

I hope all readers will take their health seriously after reading this book. Your heart must be made of the blackest stone to not break when you read the last line of the dad’s obituary: “Bell was thirty-nine.” The father’s health problems could have been avoided if he would have gone to the doctor for yearly checkups and had better eating habits – something his wife continually begged him to do.

The story ends on a sad note with the passing of the twin’s father; however, the ending lines of prose give the reader assurance that the twins have put any differences behind them: “Hey, I shout. We Da Man.”

Reviews

• Booklist (2015): “An accomplished author and poet, 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.”
• Kirkus (2014): “This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story. Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.”

Awards

• 2015 John Newbery Medal, Winner
• 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Award, Honor (Author)
• 2014 Cybils Awards, Finalist (Middle Grade Fiction)

Connections

• Learn more about the author at his website: http://kwamealexander.com/
• Have students create a vocabulary list as they read the book. Assign the students to create poetry with the vocabulary words.
• Collaborate with the PE teacher to receive instruction on basketball fundamentals. Have the class play some basketball.
• Research professional basketball teams – don’t forget the European teams!

Bibliography

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. ISBN 9780544107717

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. September 17, 2017.