Kwame Alexander: The Crossover
The Crossover Written by Kwame Alexander
Summary By the Publisher:
"A bolt of lightning on my kicks... the court is sizzling. My sweat is drizzling. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering." raps basketball phenom Josh Bell. Thanks to his dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court, with crossovers that make even the toughest ballers cry. But Josh has more than hoops in his blood. He's got a river of rhymes flowing through him -- a sick flow that helps him find his rhythm when everything's on the line.
As their winning season unfolds, things begin to change. When Jordan meets the new girl in school, the twin's tight-knit bond unravels. In this heartfelt novel, basketball and brotherhood intertwine to show Josh and Jordan that life doesn't come with a playbook and, sometimes, it's not about winning.
My Interpretation:
This book was absolutely amazing! The rhythm of every line came so naturally, I felt like I could hear Kwame's voice in my head throughout every page. My favorite poem formats that he used were the vocabulary poems, where he has a word at the top of the page with the pronunciation and use. There is something there that is just so aesthetically appealing to me to read a dictionary word and rephrased in a book like this. Josh Bell is such a charismatic character which makes reading all the more easy. But the most thrilling thing to me is that each poem flows together seamlessly to create this beautifully woven together story about two brothers and their love for basketball.
Affordances:
Poems are part of a normal school curriculum that most English/Language Arts teachers will have to teach at some point in the year. But it is important to keep in mind why we have poems included in the curriculum and just how important they might be. There is a video linked down below. In it, you'll find Kwame Alexander speaking about his book and the reasons behind creating it. He wanted to give something more relatable to male students to read. As he so eloquently put it, poetry “can be a bridge” to get students reading more forms of literature. Yes, we’ve heard books being compared to windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1990). But the way that Kwame Alexander describes poems to bridges takes on a similar and equally important meaning. Not every student may be interested in reading long chapter books. But many students might be interested in reading related free-style raps or pieces about basketball.
Kwame Alexander included a wide range of poems in his book. From haikus to vocabulary poems, he has this wide assortment that he can provide students with variety to decide what they like and enjoy, what they might want to try out for themselves. With so many options, students should have no problem choosing something they feel like they could mimic, especially with a bit of practice. Like he says, “there are so many different forms of poetry. And I believe I wanted to have that sort of variety, that sort of diversity, of verse so that kids can sort of figure out what they were interested in, what they can latch onto. And perhaps mimic some of these poems.”
Instructional Guide:
After reading Kwame Alexander's "The Crossover", students will have many models for poems that they can use to inspire them to write their own poem. Explain to your students that one method to creating a poem is to follow the general format of another poem (giving credit to the author, of course) and a narrative piece that they've already written. Choose a poem that you would like to recreate and use the narrative mentor text that you've written as a whole-group class to get started. With the "I do, we do, you do" method, you will remind them of the narrative text and start writing the first line of the poem, speaking aloud your writing process. Afterward, you can have students help write the next few lines by brainstorming words and phrases that are fitting to use. Once you feel confident that they understand how to use a narrative piece and poem format to create their own poem, you can gradually release them to create their own. Ask students to take out their writer's notebook and find a narrative piece they've been working on. Then, with printed pieces of "The Crossover" poems, have students choose one they would like to use for the format of their poem. Examples are shown below:
My Narrative Piece:
We'd been looking forward to this trip for quite some time. I had a deep fascination for nature and animals and knew very well that this was the place to see them. Though the scenery around me was the most brilliant I had possibly ever seen, it was difficult to allow my mind to soak it in. It was preoccupied searching for something else. There was an entire mountain ahead of us and much ground to cover. "What if we climb to the peak and try to spot them from up there?" He offered. I shook my head, thinking that there was no way I would be able to climb the near-vertical slope. But before I could offer an argument, he started to climb. I hesitated but quickly relented for fear of being left behind. I clamored up the side of the mountain gripping the rocky walls with pebbles falling beneath me. It wasn't long before I was gasping for my breath as my foot took its first step onto the mountain's summit. I scanned the environment from the top, letting my eyes touch everything on the ground below. The vibrant green encapsulated everything even as the clouds casted an enormous shadow over the earth. Suddenly I let out a loud gasp. "THERE!" I squealed. "I SEE THEM!" And just as quickly as I reached the top, I was bounding back toward the bottom, determined to reach them before they disappeared again. Rounding the corner of the path, I slowed to steady walk so I wouldn't spook them. And just as I did, my eyes settled on two giant beasts. I quietly stopped in front of them with a grin holding my cheeks up. We did it. There in front of us were the Wild Ponies.
Poems Re-Established:
Awards Won:
· Coretta Scott King Book Awards
· Lee Bennett Hopkins Award
· John Newbery Medal
· Charlotte Huck Award
· Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts Award
Additional Resources:
If you loved “The Crossover” the verse novel, then check out his graphic novel of “The Crossover”! Just like the verse novel does, it will appeal to your reluctant readers who love sports but this time it will have amazing illustrations!
If you want more information about the celebrities featured in this book or want to teach your students more about these legendary people, here is some information about them below:
Author Information:
Twitter: @kwamealexander Instagram: @kwamealexander
Other Work:
· Out of Wonder
· The Playbook
· Booked
References:
Alexander, K., (2014). The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Bishop, R. S., (1990). Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, Vol. 6 No. 3. Ohio State University.
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