The Crossover

The Crossover
Author: Kwame Alexander
Medal: Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery Award
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grades: 5-8

This is a coming-of-age story about twins , named Josh and Jordan. These boys are both in middle school who both play basketball. Josh is also known as, Filthy McNasty, on the court and Jordan, JB, is just a decent player. So, One day the boys make a bet, Josh ends up losing, and Jordan gets the chance to cut some of Josh's dreadlocks. Their mom ends up making Josh cut his dreadlocks because she didn't like they way it looked. Josh goes searching for a box to put his dreads in and found more than he thought he would. In his discovery he found out a few things about his father and why he stopped playing basketball. As the year goes on Jordan finds a "girlfriend" and Josh starts to feel left out because they don't spend as much time with each other as they used to. During one of their games Josh's built up anger finally comes out when he throws a ball at JB's face and almost breaks his nose and their relationship. In the end, their fathers health takes a turn for the worst. While in the hospital from a heart attack, he suffers two more, which ultimately ends up killing him. The death of their father rekindles their relationship. This book would be great to have in the classroom because it is about family struggles and tweens trying to find their own identity.