Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The story of the Undefeated

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander

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There is nothing exactly like the frustrations a reader/me experiences when they/me are/is trying to write the review of a book that is freaking (only I am not saying freaking) awesome and they/me cannot put that into words since the book says it best. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander is a poetic look at the history of blacks in this country. Covering people from those we know such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to people we might know like poet Phillis Wheatley and musicians […]

A book about baseball that suddenly became a book about so much more.

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I’ve read a whole bunch of Kwame Alexander’s poetry stories — he writes for tweens and teens in verse, but it never feels boring or difficult. The plot moves quickly and easily and his topics are usually difficult ones. Divorce, death of a parent, unrequited crushes, adoption, the end of a friendship, etc. And it seems like his best books — for me, that would include The Crossover, Booked,and Rebound— revolve around sports. Basketball. Soccer. And now, baseball. Noah is in high school and is […]

“If blood inside you is on the inside of someone else, you never want to see it outside of them.”

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Another brilliant book told in verse (similar to those by Kwame Alexander), Long Way Down takes place in a single elevator ride over 60 seconds. I was doubtful that this could be pulled off successfully, but my god, what Jason Reynolds does here is extraordinarily effective. Will is mourning the sudden shooting death of his brother, Shawn. According to “the rules” of his neighborhood, Will must now plan to take his brother’s gun and shoot the boy who he thinks killed his brother. THE RULES […]

“I want to be the hero in my story.”

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Last year, when I started my new job, one of the first books I was given to read was Kwame Alexander’s Booked. I read and devoured it in a day. And then tracked down The Crossover, and loved that one, as well. Rebound is a prequel to The Crossover — it tells the story of Chuck Bell, the father of Jordan and Josh Bell, the twin basketball stars who tell their story in prose in The Crossover. Chuck’s claim to fame was that he played […]

“The poems were cool. The best ones were like bombs, and when all the right words came together it was like an explosion.”

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I’m still making my way through the constantly growing pile of books I need to read for work. I need to be able to comment on some of our “new and noteworthy” books picks, so if parents or teachers want recommendations, I can easily help them out. Oh, your kid likes dark fantasy and Neil Gaiman? Try The Girl Who Drank The Moon. You say your kid likes sports, but really isn’t much of a reader? Well, then get some books by Kwame Alexander. And […]

Challenging Stereotypes: The Crossover

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Other than his vibrant use of language, a strong narrative voice, and his realistic portrayal of the speed, heat, and energy of basketball, Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover (2014) is wonderful because it challenges the “single stories” of black life related in many books: It isn’t about impoverished black boys from a single parent female-headed household living in a crime-ridden neighborhood who play basketball to escape. Rather, it is a universal story of growing up, of family, and of love told in narrative verse (poetry). Read the full […]



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