Book Review: Crossover

Crossover

by Kwame Alexander

Summary

Identical twins, Jordan and Josh, are the children of world famous basketball star, Chuck Bell, and high school assistant principal, Dr. Bell. 

Jordan, nicknamed Filthy McNasty, and Josh, nicknamed JB, may be identical in looks, but not in personality. Before Jordan loses his dreads to an accidental extra cut from a bet, that seemed to be the only way to tell the two apart by appearance. 

Both leading in their father’s footsteps, they play basketball and are the tallest kids on the team, standing at six feet. Jordan can dunk as a twelve year old eighth grader. Dad and the twins have a great relationship and practice together daily. Dad motivates them and teaches them all about the game. Chuck and mom attend every game they can and support their boys with every ounce in them. 

As the year progresses, a new girl comes to school, Alexes, and meets the twins in the lunch room. JB falls for her and almost immediately. The two of them begin to date, and the tension between the twins rise. Josh can’t understand JB’s fascination with Alexes, Ms. Sweet Tea, and begins to get angry as JB’s concentration on basketball seems to dwindle. 

The twins have a falling out, Josh throws a game ball too hard, and JB ends up with a bloody nose while the boys end up a feud. Mom suspends Josh from any future basketball games, even if it means the championship. 

Throughout the book, we are informed that mom is a bit of a health addict, but we aren’t quite sure why. At first, you presume the healthy meals and lack of eating out is because of the boys and their athletics. We later find out that hypertension runs in the family, on dad’s side. Chuck’s father died at 39 years old from a heart attack, the twins never knew him.

Chuck goes from bloody noses, to vomiting, to eventually falling during a one on one game between Josh, ending with a trip to the hospital and Chuck in a coma. 

After twenty plus days in the hospital, Christmas passes, and Chuck tells Josh he can play in the championship game.

The day of the game, mom runs upstairs, alerts the boys that Chuck is relapsing again, and bolts to the hospital. Jordan follows on his bike while Josh loads up with his teammate and his dad. 

While playing, Josh is all about the game, barely noticing the text messages from his mom. When Jordan walks in with tears in his eyes, Josh knew the inevitable happened. His 45 year old father died of a heart attack while Josh was playing basketball. 

The book ends on a lighter note with the twins rekindling their friendship, Alexes apologizing to Josh about not being at the funeral and her behavior, and Josh shooting almost fifty free throws in a row, the same number his dad shot in the Olympic finals. 

Book Trailer

Published by Kwame Alexander, this extended book trailer talks about the struggles within the book. Per his website, Kwame Alexander adds to his fun sense of style with bright colors, funny pictures, and extra information.

Themes

Death, Coming of Age, Responsibility, Love, and Family.

Similar Themed Books

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor and Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff.

Other Books by Kwame Alexander

Kwame has written fifteen other books, but Crossover is the only audio book available at the moment. He also has a mixtape available for purchase that he created with Randy. The mixtape consist of songs that help inspired his books.

Teaching Ideas

Research a sports figure and develop a short biography over the male or female figure of any sport background. After students have obtained the information, have them write a narrative poem over a specific time in the sports figure's life, whether it deals with the sport itself or a personal issue. Give an example of Kwame Alexander's protagonist, Josh Bell, and determine what makes it a narrative poem, what are the parts of a narrative poem, does rhyme matter, and how can we decide what to choose specifically out of their entire life.

After a poem has been written about a sports figure, have students read their poems aloud to the class and see if they can guess who the sports figure is.