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The Crossover
Your twin gets a girlfriend, your dad won't see a doctor, and basketball is the only thing that makes sense. 🏀 The Crossover is grief that moves like a game.
Who it's for
The Crossover reaches readers who might never pick up a 'sad book': it moves like a basketball game, with rap-like rhythms, sound effects and poems shaped like plays.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Kwame Alexander's 2014 novel in verse follows 12-year-old identical twins Josh and Jordan (JB) Bell, basketball players coached by their father, Chuck 'Da Man' Bell, a former basketball star. When Jordan falls for a classmate, Alexis, Josh feels left behind, and his resentment ends with him throwing a ball into his brother's face, which gets him suspended from the team.
Where to find it
In print (originally Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and at most libraries, including Libby/Hoopla. An audiobook exists, and a graphic novel adaptation (illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile) is a gentler way in.
Before you start
Heads up: A parent's illness and death.
Age: Ages 9+
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.Psalm 147:3, Psalm 147:3
