Kosta Prevas

        October 22, 2016

        English period 4

         Book Review #1

The Crossover

By

Kwame Alexander

Fiction

237 pages

Newberry Award and Coretta Scott King Award

1^st paragraph

           

            The novel, The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander is about these twin brothers named Josh Bell (Filthy McNasty) and Jordan Bell (JB).  Josh got his nickname because he has a nice crossover that can make people fall which is where he gets Filthy and he never cleans his room which is where he got McNasty.  Jordan says that they should call him JB because his favorite player is Michael Jordan.  They both are excellent basketball players like their father who played professional basketball for a short period of time.  Josh is taller than Jordan and can dunk even though he is in seventh grade!  Jordan is more of a shooter and has a soft touch for the ball.  They are a perfect duo on the court and are excellent students in the classroom.  It is hard to keep all of this up when they hear that their dad had his third stroke in the last for months except this one was really bad.  He had hypertension and had a badly scarred heart like his father before him.  He passed away the day after playing a game of one on one with Josh when his blood pressure was too high and he collapsed in the middle of the game.  Their father never missed their basketball games and was thirty-nine years old.  Jordan missed the championship game to be with the family when Josh decided to go to the game.  They ended up winning and Josh was named MVP.  Before their father passed away he told Jordan to give his legendary ring to Josh, the one they had always wanted to wear but never got to.  Their dad was always close to them and he always will be crossing over them.

2^nd paragraph

            This was an excellent book and I enjoyed it.  I liked that it was about basketball because it is my favorite sport and it talks about life off court.  It talks about their family’s life and the classroom when it isn’t about basketball.  I didn’t like the ending very much because it was a little harsh about their father dying.  My dad is also around that age so I think about it sometimes and it kind of hurts because I relate my life to the stories life so it was a little hard.  I do recommend this book to people who like rhymes and basketball or just like to read because once you pick this book up you can’t put it down.  This book also shows that there is more than basketball like learning and family time.  This is why I liked this book and recommend it to others.