Rebound

It’s 1988 and Charlie Bell (later to become Chuck ‘Da Man’ Bell) is 12 years old and going through the hardest time in his life after his dad dies from a stroke. It seems like nothing can make him feel any joy in life now and that nothing ever will – not even his lovely best friends CJ (Crystal) and Skinny.

After he gets into a spot of trouble, his mum decides to send him to spend the summer with his paternal grandparents a few hours drive away. Here, his cousin Roxie introduces him to basketball, his grandad introduces him to hard work and jazz, and things begin to change.

This is the prequel to Kwame Alexander’s masterful and Newbery prize-winning basketball verse novel The Crossover (and it’s fine to read the two in either order).

Also written in verse, Rebound is funny, moving and full of great ideas on how to live your life – and almost impossible not to read in one sitting. The poetry grabs you and won’t let you go; the raw emotion and powerful storytelling pours out of the pages. When you finish it, you just want to read it again.

Rebound is perfect for anyone you know who thinks they don’t like reading (particularly any 12-year-old boys), and also everyone who does.

Watch our interview with Kwame Alexander