Slam dunk

I have finished reading The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. My initial thoughts about this book were first that it may be hard to read. I have never enjoyed poetry, neither reading nor writing it. I have always struggled reading books that are set up in stanzas. I think it is because I’m used to reading the regular, novel-style books that include paragraphs and full sentences. However, as I began to read this, I started to appreciate the way the author organized his words. There is a certain mood that becomes attached to a book that is written in this way. It is fast-paced, dramatic, and personal to the narrator of the book. The Crossover is written from Josh’s perspective, who is the main character. I like how the author did this because I like to know what characters are thinking as I am reading a book.

The form did change as I read the text. At times, the author would organize the words on the page in diagonals, zig-zags, and so on. I have attached a picture so that the reader can see an example of how Alexander (the author) does this. He usually tends to do this when exciting, heart-racing things are happening in the book. I interpret that by doing this, the author is showing how Josh’s mind is reacting to what’s going on as he explains it. For example, you can see that the word ‘shook’ is written in capital, large letters. This shows me that Josh was feeling excited that he shook up another player while playing basketball.

There are also ‘dictionary’ definitions throughout the book, which I love. For example, one of the words that Josh describes is calamity [KUH-LAM-IH-TEE] noun. This word is known as an undesirable event. Josh uses personal examples in order to tell us what the word is. For example, on page 39, he explains, “the HUGE bald patch on the side of my head is a dreadful calamity”. I think it is awesome how the author allowed the main character to use his own examples to explain a word. While reflecting on the dictionary words in this book, I thought about a way that this book can be used in the classroom. In doing a vocabulary lesson, students can pull a word that they like out of any line or passage from this book. Once they pull a word, they can describe the word to the classroom or a group of students and then give their own personal example using the word. This will be a great way for students to relate to the content they are learning, which will allow for more student engagement.

I think that these type of books can be used in the classroom many ways. First of all, reading these books inspires children to write their own poetry. As we saw in Love That Dog, the main character didn’t like poetry at first. As he developed his writing throughout the months, he became an excellent poetry writer without even realizing it. I believe it will be easier for students to write poetry after they have read multiple examples of different styles and themes of poems. Along with this, reading poetry can help with fluency and language development. Poetry gives opportunities for students to come across words they wouldn’t normally see in a novel, series, or other genre of book. Poetry books can certainly help with language development and awareness of words.

Here is the poem I wrote from my tablemates’ lines today!

When I walk onto the court

I prefer silence

so I can

watch

react

surprise

Your talent will help

you win games

but your intelligence,

that will help you

win at life

Sometimes

you have to lean back

a little and fade away

to get the best shot

and get ready to practice harder

Sometimes it’s the things

that aren’t said

that kill you

With less than two feet

between us

I feel miles away

from all of them