Ball is life
The Crossover:
I loved this book! Let me just say that I am not a basketball person but I really did love this book. I like how descriptive this book is especially with the basketball terms used. It involves a family structure life explanation tied in with basketball and middle school. It goes through the topic of identity and loss. Looking at the title and having it based on basketball and two twin 7th grade boys, I as a girl loved the book and let me just say that it did make me cry. The book is in poetry form in which I would say that it sounds a bit more like a rap and a basketball announcer most of the time. This book goes through the family lifestyle and family hardships that might arise through life. It gives these 7th graders a taste of their history and what they should become aware of in their futures. It is also filled with “basketball rules” which I took in as “life rules” that can be applied to everyone.
Overall it is a great book and I would recommend it to both basketball fans and non-basketball fans. When I began to read the book I was a bit confused about the story line and what ii would get out of this book. I was afraid that it would all be about basketball and basketball terms that I would be unfamiliar with. There were a few basketball terms that were included in the book but it also provided a definition of each term that was used, both for basketball terms and newer vocabulary words. At first I was also confused about the twins since they both have “J” names but a few pages in I caught on. When I first picked up this book I thought that it would be the first book that wouldn’t make me cry in this class since it was about sports, but boy was I wrong.
I love how it is so easy to read! The text and form of this book makes it so you get hyped up just like a basketball player would or an announcer. If you are hyped up you are reading so much faster than usual and with excitement in your voice. The text makes you feel like you are there like you are the main character and towards the end it makes you empathize with the main character and the family.
I think that this book is not just for boys but I think that it would be a great way to get more boys in my future class to read more poetry. Since it is sports related and in poetry form I can see how children can fall in love with this book. The book holds a lot of emotions that maybe some of my student will go through and this book might help them cope or understand the things that they will go through while in middle school. This is honestly one of my favorite books and it just holds so many emotions, feelings, and meaning within this book.
Cento:
One Reply to “Ball is life”
First of all let me start by apologizing for my late response. I have been super busy and had a hard time finding your post for some weird reason.
Sounds like you really enjoyed your book. I love how you say it weaves life into basketball terms and relates the two together I feel like that would show readers how poetry can be about s many different things and can be about one thing be mean something completely different. It just depends on the perspective of the reader. I would imagine even though the book seems like it would be about serious topics at once it seems like a fun read if you are reading it at a fast pace or even like an announcer. I feel like you are completely right it might appeal more to boys since it is about sports and the main characters are boys but can just appeal to anybody who likes basketball or can relate to the story in some way.