The Crossover

Written by: Kwame Alexander

Genre: realistic fiction, poetry

Awards: Newbery Winner 2015

               Coretta Scott King Honor 2015

Summary:

The story follows 12-year-old Josh Bell as he experiences life in seventh grade. He loves playing basketball and longs to have a successful time playing. Josh adores his twin brother, Jordan, and his dad, Chuck, and loves to spend his time playing basketball with them. Unfortunately, things begin to change when Jordan begins hanging out with other people and Chuck gets sick. Josh and Jordan's relationship further deteriorates when Chuck goes to the hospital. After their father dies, Josh and Jordan realize that they need to lean on each other in hard times. 

Teacher Evaluation:

This book would be best for fifth and sixth-grade classrooms. The story uses a variety of poetic forms, so teachers could use this for a unit on writing and analyzing poetry. I would use this book to study characterization and how language helps readers understand who characters are and what they represent. We would compare and contrast Josh and Jordan using a graphic organizer and find text evidence that supports our findings. For a group project, students would create a character snapshot for each of the main characters then share their findings with the class.