Synopsis: "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
Review: The Crossover is a novel in verse about a middle school kid named Josh, and we see him deal with crushes, family issues, and school. I really enjoyed The Crossover. Josh has to deal with a lot in the book, including conflict with his twin, Jordan. I was glad Kwame was able to make Josh and Jordan feel distinct, even though they were twins. I hate when books feature twins and they feel like the same character. Something that helped with this is Josh struggling with identity. He struggles being a twin. He struggles being the son of a major basketball star.
For the most part, I enjoyed the structure of The Crossover. One thing that gets brought up a lot is health because Josh realizes that his dad has heart problems. This topic hit a little close to home for me because my dad died of a heart attack, and I recognized a lot of the fights between Josh's parents. Still, nothing in this book felt too heavy which is good considering it's meant for middle grade children. One of my favorite things about The Crossover was seeing Josh take lessons from basketball and use them in his day-to-day life. I'm not big into sports, but I liked seeing this in a kids book. Hopefully, any kid athlete who might pick this book up, can learn from Josh and adapt lessons learned on the court or field.
Quick read that I enjoyed quite a lot, even though I'm not into basketball.
4 howls
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