77 pages 2 hours read

The Crossover

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2014

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

The Crossover (2014) is a coming-of-age novel in verse by award-winning children’s author and poet Kwame Alexander. The narrative follows a 12-year-old Black boy named Josh Bell whose poems express his love for basketball and his family. With his twin brother, Jordan, Josh’s sense of self evolves as he uses basketball to deal with his father’s death. The book explores themes of Confidence and Vulnerability; Basketball as Life Lessons; and Music, Rhythm, and Identity.

Rebound, a prequel to The Crossover, was published in 2018. The Crossover won the 2015 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award for children’s literature.

Plot Summary

Crossover is a novel in verse divided into six named but unnumbered parts that each contain a series of named poems written in different styles. Josh is the poems’ first-person narrator.

At six feet tall, and with the guidance of their legendary basketball player father Chuck “Da Man” Bell, Josh and Jordan are the stars of their basketball team. One of the only ways people can tell them apart is by their hair: Josh has dreadlocks, and Jordan has no hair at all.

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