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Important themes in The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.

Introduction.

Kwame Alexander’s Crossover is a novel of life and lines that is beautifully measured;

the novel explains the lives lived by Josh and JB, who are deep into a year when they encounter

the change of everything in their life. The story, written in the form of verses, poetry, serves the

interior and interior world that Josh lives in. There are so many lessons that we learn from the

way characters are presented in the novel, particularly through what Josh experiences. The lesson

plays a very important role to the reader as they connect to the current events continuously

happening in society. Kwame Alexander’s Crossover has so many themes that can be found by

the reader to be important and connected to the current events in society.

Dream.

For instance, there is a theme on dream portraying that dream is very important if one

wants to live a better life. In life, having a dream is very important because achieving a dream

takes a very valuable process that the results of the dream. The lives of people can be enriched

by dreams and lighten the world inside them. Josh Bell in The Crossover is partial to playing

basketball; he has a dream to go to the University of Duke. Josh does a lot of practice both at

home and in school for him to reach his goal. “I let him win and get ready to practice harder”
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(Alexander P.57). In the team, Josh is the quickest, and the coach keeps on telling them that there

is no need forpr5actice for those who run faster; however, Josh lets Vondie win deliberately

because he wants to practice more and more for him to be stronger than all the team members.

Josh does all these trying to make his dream come true, his process of realizing his dreams, e he

fulfills his life as he makes so many friends with his teammates, at the same time, his skills in

basketball improves. The writer, in the poem Dreams, says that “Hold fast to dreams/ For when

dreams go/ Life is a barren field/ Frozen with snow” (Hughes 5-8). From these lines, we see that

people’s joy in life is brought by their dreams. It is very impossible for one to feel any passion in

life if they don’t have their own dream to realize, for it is through the dream that people get to

enlighten their inner thoughts.

Family.

The theme of family relationship is very prominent the Kwame Alexander’s Crossover;

in the novel, the family unit is portrayed as uplifting, supportive, ordering inspiring, sustaining

entity, and meaning-providing. Alexander presents parents as thoughtful and engaged, they want

their children to achieve their best, and they also encourage them in their ways of life. Alexander

(P. 45) says, “And even though we’ve seen Dad/wear it many times/ actually holding his glossy

championship ring/in our hands/is more than magical.” The two admire the accomplishment of

their father, informing the reader that they see him as an inspirational and admirable figure.

Josh and JB are loving sons to their parents, they have a very healthy relationship with

their parents, and they are honest even though they sometimes display some trait characteristics

that appear negative to them as young teenagers. However, the family does not appear perfect as

some of the characters behave in a way that they let the family down; a good example is when
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the Dad refuses to go to the doctor, and Josh hurts JB. There are a lot of shockwaves throughout

the family to the extent that Josh is wondering if their family may fall apart due to what goes on

in the family sometimes, and of course, it is not; definitely, it is enduring some attacks on health

and family.

Thematically, the family involves compassion, mutual love, loyal between and spiritual,

emotional, and physical encouragement, and support for the individuals who may be related or

not related by blood. The novel presents Josh’s family, the Bells, and his relationship to them

brings out the theme of family as everything revolves around the family as Alexander (P. 97)

presents, “Well, our family has a history/ of heart problems . . ./so we’re going to start eating

better./Especially Dad. And we’re going to /start tonight with /some hummus and /pita bread”

Josh refers to his father as the family backbone and his own life. Having carefully saved money

from his basketball profession to be able to provide for his family, Chuck holds his family

together, giving her wife to follow her career in education; he also wants his son to follow him

by becoming a player in basketball. Additionally, Josh is inspired by Chuck in everything, from

being a good man to being a star in basketball.

Loss.

The other prominent theme that Alexander brings out in his novel is the theme of loss,

everything that everyone will experience in their life when their loved ones die, loss of a dream

or job, or entirely anything that one may lose in their lives. Josh faces the loss of his best friend,

JB; he also loses his father to a heart attack. Josh approaches with more thoughtfulness and

reflection and reaches to the other people rather than separating himself from them the death of

his father; he frustratingly handles the former, holds on, and finally outbursts and anger.
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Alexander does not alleviate the pain of the death of Dad, it is affecting and deeply sad, but he

does not come up with any suggestion that the family will endure.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, “The Crossover” doesn’t ignore contemporary issues; the writer sums up

various issues that are experienced in the everyday way of human life; he incorporates so many

themes, including the theme of the family, which is the most prominent, loss and dream that are

very important in enlightening the society. The novel is not written in a way that pushes a social

agenda, but it sheds more light on what must be in the literature of children.
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Work cited.

Alexander, Kwame. The crossover. Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, 2016.

Alexander, Kwame. The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander Engages Students in Writing Workshop

(and You Can Too!). Teacher Created Materials, 2018.

Alexander, Kwame. Rebound. 2018.

Borsheim-Black, Carlin, and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides. Letting go of literary whiteness:

Antiracist literature instruction for white students. Teachers College Press, 2019.

Coats, Karen. "The Crossover by Kwame Alexander." Bulletin of the Center for Children's

Books 67.6 (2014): 303-303.

Katie Cunningham. "Rebound." The Classroom Bookshelf, 2 May 2018,

[Link]/2018/04/rebound/.

Krok, Lisa. Novels in Verse for Teens: A Guidebook with Activities for Teachers and Librarians.

ABC-CLIO, 2020.

Serravallo, Jennifer. "Dropping Everything to Read? How about Picking Some Things Up!."

Voices from the Middle 24.4 (2017): 24.

The Crossover from BookRags. (c)2021 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved.

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