The Crossover
Written By Kwame Alexander
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2014
Awards: Newbery Medal Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
Winner
Summary:
Twin brothers, Josh and Jordan Bell are amazing basketball
starts and basically inseparable. That’s until a girl comes into the picture.
Not only that, but illness falls over the family and things start to get a
little more serious. “Life doesn’t come with a playbook and, sometimes, it’s
not about winning.” Kwame Alexander writes this book entirely in verse and it’s
amazing! The format, poems, rhymes, everything stands out in this novel.
Definitely a great read!
Brotherhood. Athletic. Rhythmic. Growth. Sizzling.
Grade Level: 5-7
Lexile Measure: 750L
Description: Fiction
Suggested Delivery: Independent
Key Vocabulary:
·
Gloat- dwell on with satisfaction
·
Inspire- to encourage
·
Flaunt- display proudly
·
Phenomenal- exceedingly or unbelievably great
·
Hypertension- an arterial disease
·
Amateur- someone who pursues a study or sport as
a pastime
·
Camaraderie- the quality of affording easy
familiarity and sociability
·
Pulchritudinous- having great physical beauty
Electronic Resources:
Voki allows students to record their voice into an
animation. This can be used for a student’s favorite poem or a short
description of their favorite part.
This is a great book trailer for The Crossover. Here Kwame Alexander speaks a little bit about the
book and then students share their opinions as well.
Teaching Suggestions:
This is a very detailed educator’s guide with the types of
poetry Alexander uses, along with class activities.
Before: Ask
students to predict what they think the story will be about by only looking at
the cover and title. After they write their predictions you can read the
summary on the book jacket to them. Then they can compare their thoughts and
predictions to it.
During: Choral
reading is great practice for students to read out loud. While reading The Crossover, this strategy would be a
lot of fun for students because of the rhythm in the poetry. Some students
might even want to act out and perform the poem and moves.
After: Students
can create a venn diagram or split notes to compare the two brothers Josh and Jordan.
Just because they are twins doesn’t mean they are the same person, so students
should be able to find many characteristics of each brother to fill their notes
with.
Writing Activity: Have
students write a form poem for The
Crossover. They can choose any form they would like, but should include
details, characters, and events from the book.
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