Quick Look: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
- Meg Pierce
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
Title: The Crossover
Author: Kwame Alexander
Genre: Fiction, Poetry, Realistic
Big Ideas (Themes): Coming of Age, Family, Sports
Book Size: Medium Read (200-300 pages)
World Categories - Setting: North America - U.S. & Canada
World Categories - Characters: Black, North American - U.S. & Canada
World Categories - Author: Black, North American - U.S. & Canada
Other Representation - Characters:
Reading Level Based on Difficulty: Middle School
Maturity Level Based on Content: Middle School
Sensitive or Mature Topics Include: Death
Notes on Sensitive or Adult Topics: Death of a Loved One
Series? Yes, No, Characters appear in other books, but intended to exist independently as well.
Number of Books in Series: One other book Rebound involves the Bell family, a third book, Booked, is written in same style
Introductory Summary: Josh and his twin brother Jordan love the game of basketball and they're good at it, which isn't surprising since their dad is a retired pro player. Unfortunately, when Jordan falls for a girl at school, Josh starts to feel like the third wheel and he doesn't handle it well. Meanwhile, their dad is trying to figure out his next steps while their mom is just trying to keep everyone healthy.
What we like about this book: This book is written in poetry, but reads like a YA novel. I love the theme of brotherhood and navigating sibling life and found it very relatable to how I grew up with my siblings playing sports. I also appreciated that this was a book about black characters just living their lives. A lot of what I teach is historical fiction. That the conflict in this book isn't racism and discrimination, but rather family dynamics makes it feel fresh and less heavy, despite some really serious and heavy events. Most of all, I found it an excellent book for teaching poetry concepts like repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc. The kids became pros at these concepts a quarter of the way through the book.
3 Reasons Students Will Like This Book:
1. Kids like the narrative poetry - despite the number of pages, the way it is laid out makes for a fast, easy read.
2. The kids like the sounds of the poetry, my all-boy class loved reading this one aloud.
3. The sports and competitive aspect. The kids really enjoyed the play by plays and the trash talking.
4. I have to add one more - the boys love the romance and girlfriend aspect.
Teaching Notes / Recommendations: This book is fantastic for teaching poetry concepts and as a way in to writing poetry. For my 7th graders, I would teach them a few poetry concepts, we'd find examples in the book during our reading, and then they would be assigned to write a poem using those concepts. For veteran teachers, you don't need this reminder, but I did have to have the kids write their poems in class on paper, otherwise I received some very well-written by AI versions of these poems.
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