Genre:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is my choice for the novel in verse category.

Target Age Group:

The target age group is 10-13 years. 

Summary:

    The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is an extraordinary novel in verse about 12-year-old twin brothers, Josh and JB, who excel at basketball and encounter a myriad of problems while they are mentally and physically trying to work toward the championship game for the Reggie Lewis Wildcats. Their dad, a joyful yet stringent father, Chuck "Da Man" Bell, is a former professional basketball player. He has a set of basketball rules for the boys which are actually life rules. These rules are a constant throughout this intense novel. The novel is written from Josh's point of view and his fearless confidence enables him to make complex decisions at difficult moments where his age does not hinder him from accomplishing unerring resolutions.

Justification:

    I chose The Crossover for my verse novel because I was not familiar with this type of fiction. I grew up with two older brothers and we would play basketball in the late afternoons at the elementary school across the street from our house. I have been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers from the days of Kareem and Magic. Yes, I love basketball and to discover a young adult novel tailored for middle school students and that it was written in verse, I enthusiastically looked forward to reading this book. I also discovered it had won a few prestigious young adult book awards and I was certain I would not be disappointed in this selection.

Evaluation:

    For this review I will be evaluating tension, pacing, and format. The tension was high in this verse novel. Kwame Alexander has created a novel of tension and stress one finds in everyday life. When you add sports and academics to the mix there is a noted increase of strain in the relationships of friends and family. Josh, the main protagonist of The Crossover, attempts to please the adults in his life (his mom, Dr. Bell, is the middle school's assistant school principal) while experiencing the throes of adolescence. His father demands the absolute best game performance in the twins and even though he is a loving father, Josh is burdened with the responsibility to constantly live up to his father's expectations. 

    The imagery of the words on the page of my Nook, adds to the pacing of the novel. Staccato bursts of language are seemingly thrown at the reader on almost every page of The Crossover. This exemplary novel never abates in the rhythm and quickness of the story's progression to the final page. Tense, sharp, and unrelentless are words that describe not only Josh's life during these few months of the school year but they also delineate how the story advances.

    I read The Crossover digitally on my Nook. There have been only a few books I have read using this format because I prefer to read a book in its physical form. I was not disappointed with this format. The light from the Nook allowed me to read it outside after the sun had set. Using this type of format also allowed me to review a page and not have to worry about holding the book a certain way so it would stay on that particular page. The one caveat I came across was, at one point, I could not swipe across to the next page. I turned off the Nook and restarted it. It worked. I was able to finish the book but I was a bit apprehensive about being able to finish the book. Despite the glitch, I plan to use the Nook more often in the future.

Citation:

Alexander, K. (2014). The crossover. Clarion Books.