book cover

The Crossover

by Kwame Alexander

Interest age: 10 to 14
Reading age: 9+

Published by Andersen Press, 2018

  • Coming-of-age
  • Poetry and rhyme

About this book

Josh and JB are basketball legends at their school. They also happen to be identical twins, but it’s easy to tell them apart if you know how to look.

As the boys build up to one of the most important matches of their lives, tensions grow between them and things at home and at school also add to the pressure. The only time they feel truly themselves is on the court. But is basketball enough to help them navigate the tricky transition to young adulthood when they have a major falling-out and it seems that Dad is hiding something?

With impressive attention to detail, the powerful, dynamic illustrations fizz with energy and do so much more than just follow the series of events. Using shades of orange, grey and black, the graphics bring out the soul of the characters allowing readers to feel their joy, pain, frustration and anger.

Although it reads like a novel, the twins’ story is told through poetry in many different forms from rap to haiku and free verse. If any book is likely to turn sports fans into book fans or convince readers that poetry is cool, this is it.

About the author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, children's author, playwright, producer, performer, and winner of the Newbery Medal for his novel-in-verse, The Crossover, and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal with Rebound. He conducts creative writing workshops in middle and high schools, often reaching more than five hundred students monthly. He lives with his wife and two daughters in the Washington, D.C. area.

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