The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2014. ISBN 9780544107717

Review and Critical Analysis:

“The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander is a story about family and brothers. Two almost 13 year old brothers, Josh (also known ask Filthy McNasty for his mad basketball skills) and Jordan, or JB, are unstoppable on the basketball court. Josh and JB are identical twins, “Two basketball goals at opposite ends of the court.” The only way to tell them apart is that Josh, the narrator of this novel in verse, is the one with long twisted hair in locks. Their dad is a former European league basketball player who teaches them everything he knows about basketball. Their mother is an assistant principal at their junior high school. In the beginning of the book, Josh says Basketball Rule #1 is “In this game of life / your family is the court / and the ball is your heart. / No matter how good you are, / no matter how down you get, / always leave / your heart / on the court.” His family is his life.

The focus of this novel is on Josh and JB’s relationship and how it changes when faced with challenges in basketball and in life. When JB gets his first girlfriend, Josh is terribly jealous that he’s spending way more time with her than he is with Josh and his dad. He eventually takes his anger out on him on the basketball court, busting him in the nose with the basketball. Josh is suspended from basketball because of it, and JB won’t talk to him. Not only this, but their dad’s health is going downhill. He stopped playing basketball because of health problems he won’t talk about, and he doesn’t trust doctors, so he refuses to visit one. In spite of Josh, JB, and their mom urging him to go, his refusal ends in a massive heart attack - yet another challenge for Josh and JB to face and find their way through.

Josh tells this entire story of family and brotherhood in verse. Kwame Alexander mixes several styles of poetry for Josh’s story. When Josh is talking about basketball, his verse is more like rap or hip-hop. In “Dribbling” he says, “At the top of the key, I’m / MOVING & GROOVING, / POPping and ROCKING - / Why you BUMPING? / Why you LOCKING?” These lines are full of speed and energy. The reader can sense the basketball court and imagine being there. However, most poems in the novel are written in free verse. They allow Josh to observe his life and family and all that is going on around him. In “Too Good” he says, “Lately, I’ve been feeling / like everything in my life / is going right: / I beat JB in Madden. / Our team is undefeated. / I scored an A+ on the vocabulary test.” Josh conveys his emotions through this free verse poetry.

The novel is divided into six sections, resembling a basketball game:  Warm-up, First Quarter, Second Quarter, Third Quarter, Fourth Quarter, and Overtime. Josh loves vocabulary, so he includes new vocabulary words and their definitions throughout the book. Words like “pulchritudinous” which means “Having great physical / beauty and appeal,” and “churlish” which means “Having a bad temper, and / being difficult to work with.” Scattered throughout the novel are ten basketball rules that, in reality, pertain much more to the game of life than to the game of basketball. Josh gives Basketball Rule #7 after he busts his brother’s nose. It says, “Rebounding / is the art / of anticipating, / of always being prepared / to grab it. / But you can’t / drop the ball.”

This novel in verse would have great appeal for any young adult - anyone who loves basketball, family, brotherhood, or just a good story. The use of verse to tell the story allows it to be told simply, another appealing aspect of it for youth. This would also be an excellent book for any young adult who has experienced the loss of a parent. It has the potential to help them find their voice and express their thoughts and emotions through poetry.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

Basketball Rule #10

A loss is inevitable,

like snow in winter.

True champions

learn

to dance

through

the storm.

Alexander includes this poem after Josh’s dad dies. It’s a poem that is more a rule about life and death than it is about basketball. Death is inevitable, but the only way to overcome such a loss is to dance through it - to find joy in the difficulty.

I would focus on this poem after students have read the entire novel. We would re-read the poem and discuss what was happening at this point in the novel. We would revisit some of the other basketball rules included in the book and talk about figurative language. I would ask students questions such as “Is this poem talking about basketball? What else might the poem be referring to? How are basketball and life similar?” I would have students think about their hobbies and interests. How could those things be compared to life? Then I would have them write their own poem comparing that activity to life or death. It could be written in Alexander’s style or in their own style.

Amazing Places by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Chris Soentpiet, and Christy Hale

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Hopkins, Lee B., Soentpiet, Chris, and Christy Hale. Amazing Places. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc, 2015. ISBN 9781600606533

Review and Critical Analysis:

Amazing Places, a collection of poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, invites readers to travel the United States through poetry. The fourteen poems in this book explore some of the nation’s different landscapes, historical sites, and unique cultural destinations. The places in these poems include Denali National Park in Alaska, Harlem’s West 125th Street in New York City, the Grand Canyon, the Liberty Bell, Niagara Falls, and more. The poems in this collection are works by notable American poets, including Joseph Bruchac, Nikki Grimes, and J. Patrick Lewis.

The inside book cover, both front and back, shows a map of the United States. The map highlights the state and location of each poem in the collection. The map is a great source of reference while reading through the poems. The reader can know the exact location of the place they are reading about. There is also a “More About the Amazing Places” section at the end of the book. This section highlights the location for each poem and provides details about the history of each site. Again, this is an excellent resource for readers. After reading each poem, I turned to this section to read more about the amazing place. Then, I returned to the poem to read it one more time, knowing more information about that place. This section helps readers better understand each place being represented by a poem. For me, it brought the poem even more to life. It allowed me to “visit” that place - to feel and sense much of what the writer felt - more fully. When I first read “Niagara” by Prince Redcloud, and then read more about Niagara Falls, I was blown away at the idea of what the first Europeans must have thought at first sight of the Falls. This additional information made the wonder of Niagara Falls even more magnificent.

The poems in this collection are each unique. Some are written in free verse and some rhyme. Each poem’s style somehow reflects the place about which it is written. The poem “Sandy Hook Lighthouse,” by Joan Bransfield Graham, is written in the shape of a lighthouse. The poem “Langston,” by Lee Bennett Hopkins about Langston Hughes, is a simple poem written with few words, much like the style Hughes himself wrote in. The poems represent the mood and emotions of the places they are written about. In “Tree Speaks” by Nikki Grimes, the voice of the tree in the poem allows readers to sense the sights and sounds of the Grand Canyon. The reader can hear the “echo / of the Colorado River rapids / bouncing off red-purple ridges.”

The poems in “Amazing Places” are naturally appealing to young people. They are simple poems that are easily absorbed and understood. They will create curiosity in children about the people and places they are written about, encouraging them to learn more about them (from the information at the back at the book or beyond) and making them want to visit those places someday. They also have the ability to inspire children to write poetry about the place where they live or places they visit.

The poems in this collection are delightfully illustrated in a collaboration between Chris Soentpiet and Christy Hale. Chris Soentpiet created the rough sketches for the illustrations. Then, Christy Hale added color and detail to them to bring them to life. Each illustration captures the essence of its poem. “Campfire,” byJanet S. Wong, is illustrated to show Denali at sunset, with beautiful pink and purple shades, to highlight the small mother and daughter roasting marshmallows over the campfire. “A Sunday Trip to Chinatown,” by Alma Flor Ada, brings the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown to life. The colorful signs and buildings show how vibrant and overflowing with Chinese culture this part of town is. Soentpiet and Hale’s illustrations will attract children to this collection of poetry.

Poem Use to Support Critical Analysis:

Langston

by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Who would have known

a young lad

delivering

door-to-door newspapers

in a small town

would one day

see people the world over

carrying his papers -

his reams of poems -

poems about -

rainy sidewalks,

stormy seas,

crystal stair memories,

moon-glimmers,

moonbeams,

but best of all,

    his dusts of dreams.

“Langston” by Lee Bennett Hopkins pays tribute to the great poet, Langston Hughes, and to Lawrence, Kansas where he lived from 1903 until 1915. The city of Lawrence has recognized him in several ways, and Hopkins discusses this at the end of the book.

Before introducing this poem, I would introduce the students to Langston Hughes. We would learn about his life, the Harlem Renaissance, and his writing. We would read a few of his poems and discuss and the style he wrote them in. I would introduce the poem “Langston” at the end of students’ learning about Langston Hughes. I would ask them how it relates to all they have learned about Hughes. I would also ask them how this poem is similar to one or more other poems written by Hughes. How did Hopkins wholly honor and reflect Langston Hughes in this poem? As a follow-up activity I would have students write a poem that reflects this same simple style of poetry. The poem could also be about Hughes or about someone or something else.

A Funeral in the Bathroom: and Other School Bathroom Poems by Kalli Dakos and Mark Beech

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Dakos, Kalli, and Mark Beech. A Funeral in the Bathroom: and Other School Bathroom Poems. China: Albert Whitman & Company, 2011. ISBN 9780807526750.

Review and Critical Analysis:

“A Funeral in the Bathroom” by Kalli Dakos is a book of poetry about the school bathroom. These poems are both funny and somber. Students, teachers, and anyone who has attended elementary school (or an elementary school bathroom) will greatly appreciate this book of poetry. They reveal the elementary school bathroom as a place to escape, as a place where accidents happen, as a place to solve puzzles, and as a place of celebrations and tears. The book includes 41 poems and a Table of Contents that lists the title of each poem and its corresponding page number. Each poem features colorful illustrations that show exactly what is happening in the poem - whether it’s a girl sitting on the toilet reading, a puzzle poem that was taped to the bathroom wall, or a student surfing in the flooded bathroom.

Dakos includes poems of all forms in her book. While many of the poems contain a rhyme scheme, some are written in free verse. Each poem is unique in its number of lines and stanzas. While this is the case, Dakos manages to write each poem in a form that would best portray its subject and character. For example, “The Bathroom Dance” is written in squiggly lines all over the page, as though the poem itself is doing the Bathroom Dance. “Emergency” is written in lines with one word each to create short stanzas. This gives the reader the image that this is such an emergency that the writer can’t say more than one word at a time. He finally yells “Emergency!” and leaves the class immediately.

The poems in “A Funeral in the Bathroom” evoke familiar childhood experiences and memories for all readers. The elementary school bathroom is a place for accidents and emergencies, and Dakos represents those experiences well in her poems. However, she best represents the elementary school bathroom as a place of escape for students. Poems such as “Meet Me in the Bathroom” in which two students plan to fake a stomach ache to get out of class and meet at two o’clock in the bathroom remind readers of small chances to talk to friends in the bathroom and take a break from class. “Bathroom Break” is a simple poem about having a little resting time and a little quiet time during your “tinkle time.”  Kalli Dakos relates to readers in a unique way by evoking these familiar childhood experiences in the school bathroom.

Mark Beech illustrates the poems in this book with bright colors and with characters containing simple features. His bright colors evoke strong emotions to go along with each poem. The simple features on each character allow them to transform into anyone - ourselves or our elementary school friends. His illustrations add humor to the already humorous poems, and they add sobriety to the already somber poems. In “Crying in the Bathroom,” Beech shows a house that is broken in two, with each piece on either side of the poem, to represent the girl’s broken home. The girl is shown with tears flowing below the poem as well. This, and every poem in the book, could not be better represented than through Beech’s illustrations.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

There Should Be a Place Kids Can Go

By Kalli Dakos

There should be a place

kids can go

when life has dealt

another blow.

There should be a shuttle

to hitch a ride

into the dark

when we need to hide.

There should be a garden

or a room to pray

when pets die

and friends move away.

There should be a tree

kids can climb

when life is a poem

that’s lost its rhyme.

When life is a poem

that’s lost its rhyme,

kids head to the bathroom

all the time.

“There Should Be a Place Kids Can Go” is my favorite poem in “A Funeral in the Bathroom.” The poem talks about kids needing a place to go when days are hard and there’s nowhere else to go. The school bathroom, in some strange way, provides that place for kids, whether it’s to shed a few tears, let out some anger, or just take a deep breath. The last lines, “When life is a poem / that’s lost its rhyme, / kids head to the bathroom / all the time” evoke the essence of Dakos’s book. The school bathroom is more than a place for “tinkle time.” It’s a place of escape.

I would introduce this poem by asking students, before reading, if they have a place they can go (either at school or outside of school) when they need to take a break. We would briefly discuss those places. Then I would ask, “What are some reasons to go to the bathroom besides to go to the bathroom?” After brief discussion, I would read them the poem and have discussion afterwards about the place of escape in this poem. Did students expect the place to go to be the school bathroom?

Afterwards, I would encourage students to write their own poem or short story about a place they go to escape. When do they go there and why?