The Crossover, Kwame Alexander

Title: The Crossover
Author: Kwame Alexander
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Year: 2014
Pages: 237
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse
Themes: Sports, Family, Growing Up, First Love, Dealing with Loss
Age Range: 3rd-8th Grade

Summary: from Booklist (mostly)

The Bell twins are stars on the basketball court and comrades in life. While there are some differences—Josh shaves his head and Jordan loves his locks—both twins adhere to the Bell basketball rules: In this game of life, your family is the court, and the ball is your heart. With a former professional basketball player dad and an assistant principal mom, there is an intensely strong home front supporting sports and education in equal measures. When life intervenes in the form of a hot new girl, the balance shifts and growing apart proves painful.

When their father dies unexpectedly towards the end of the book, Jordan and Josh are forced to examine their relationship, and realize that while they may have their differences, nothing more important than family.

Review:
Novels written in verse are big right now. I have a good friend who thinks that they are the kind of books that teachers like but don't really appeal to students. I suppose, depending on the book, that may be true. Books like Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes may appeal to a more mature reader, and may not have the widespread appeal of a graphic novel like Raina Telgemeier's Smile or genre mash-ups like Big Nate or Captain Underpants. But I think that any reader will enjoy The Crossover. Mature readers will find the format appealing, less able readers will be sucked in by the subject matter, and reluctant readers won't be scared away by the amount of print on a page. Just an importantly, the style and subject matter should appeal to Africa American students, who don't often find their lives and culture represented in children's literature.

The style is not a gimmick. The book reads like a rap song, which in less deft hands could distract from the emotional impact of the story. But this book is full of heart, and it gave me one of my biggest cries of the reading year. Josh and Jordan as character ring entirely true-I have nephews that are just like them in many ways. Their relationship with their father, and ultimately with each other, reveal deeper truths about love and family, and the tumultuous time in life when children start to separate their identity from that of their parents. The books reads very much like a traditional coming of age story, focusing in social relationships and first romances, until tragedy strikes Jordan and Josh's family. Sparking conversation about the themes and structures of this books should be easy, making it perfect for use in guided reading, book clubs, or literature circles. The Crossover definitely deserves the the medals it received as the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Award winner for 2015.

Barbed Wire Baseball, Marissa Moss

Title:  Barbed Wire Baseball
Author: Marissa Moss
Publisher:  Harry N. Abrams
Year:  2013
Pages:  48
Genre:  Non-Fiction, Historical
Themes:  World War II, Japanese Internment, Sports, Perseverance
Age Range: 2nd-6th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

As a boy, Kenichi “Zeni” Zenimura dreams of playing professional baseball, but everyone tells him he is too small. Yet he grows up to be a successful player, playing with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig! When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in 1941, Zeni and his family are sent to one of ten internment camps where more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry are imprisoned without trials. Zeni brings the game of baseball to the camp, along with a sense of hope.

Review;
There are quite a few children's and young adult books out there that describe the experience of Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II.  Books like The Bracelet and  Farewell to Manzanar have become staples of English classes in schools that strive to teach the complete truth about America in regards to its treatment of immigrants generally, and the Japanese Americans specifically.  There is even another book about baseball and the internment camps, called Baseball Saved Us.  Moss' contribution, Barbed Wire Baseball, tells the true story of a famous Japanese American baseball player named Zenichi Zenimura, sent to internment camps in the desert along with tens of thousands of other Japanese.  The story begins when Zeni was a small boy who became determined to become a great baseball player.  Unlike many young boys with the same dream, Zeni actually had the talent to make it a possibility, and the perseverance to make it happen.

Rather than focusing on the day to day life in the camp,  Barbed Wire Baseball details the extraordinary optimism, hard work, and ingenuity displayed by Zeni and the other prisoners at his camp.  Determined to play baseball, no matter the challenges, Zeni has a vision, a dream of a "real" baseball field in the middle of the stony desert.  He plants grass, chalks lines, steals wood to make bleachers for fans, and takes up a collection to buy equipment and uniforms for the players.  Zeni's quest proves the strength of the human spirit when faced with adversity, while highlighting the inherent injustices in this painful period of American history.

The illustrations pair beautifully with the story, done in a quasi-traditional Japanese style, but with American images included.  This picture book would make a good read aloud as a stand alone title, but would be a marvelous addition to a unit about World War II.

Teacher Resources:
Abrams Discussion Guide
Marissa Moss' Website