The Crossover ~ Kwame Alexander

Riley and I decided we needed to hit the gym a bit more after reading The Crossover today. 🤓💪🏼••

This novel has been on my to-read list for ages, but I could never snag it before another student checked it out of my library! Now I see why. This novel, written in verse, by Kwame Alexander, left tears in my eyes and reminded me of the important things in life. Protagonist Josh Bell is a basketball star on his middle school team with his brother Jordan.

The boys’ father, Chuck “Da Man” Bell, was a professional ball player, and everything they know is because of his wisdom and guidance. But when things start to change— Jordan gets a girlfriend, their dad starts having strange symptoms, and their parents start fighting more often—Josh becomes confused and angry. A mistake born from his anger changes everything. Can he make things right? Can he find a new normal? When I recommend this novel to my students, I typically read several pages aloud and, if I have the opportunity, I project or share the pages with my students as I read so they can understand enjambment and how verse writing leaves many things unsaid. Students will need to make a lot of inferences from the verse writing, so I like to prepare them to prevent confusion and overwhelm.

Maturity: 2/4

I would recommend this novel to students age 11+. Though this novel does not contain mature content, the protagonist’s father does have serious a health condition (and passes away) which may be difficult to read for students who have family or friends with medical conditions or have passed away.

Pages: 237

Lexile: 750L

Lexile is a score that helps educators and parents match students with an appropriate text. A Lexile score is a measure of both a child’s reading ability and a text difficulty. However, Lexile does not take into account the content of a novel. So, pairing readers with a text is a complex process, and knowledge of a novel’s themes and plot is necessary to make a high-quality recommendation.If you are curious about the grade-level equivalent to Lexile scores, check out the conversion chart here!