Rebound

Tue, 05/08/2018 - 2:31pm by Lucy S

Playful words slide up, down, and diagonally across the pages. Comics are peppered throughout. Once again, Kwame Alexander has created a novel in verse, saturated with rhythm. Rebound is a prequel for Alexander’s 2014 book, The Crossover, which won the Newbery Medal. We are introduced to Chuck Bell, the father in The Crossover, as the child Charlie Bell, growing up in the 1980s. Like his sons in later years, Charlie faces a tragedy that changes his life forever. He is unwillingly spending a summer away from home with his paternal grandparents. But it is here that he can start to recover from his loss. Through affectionate love, tough love, friendship, and basketball, Charlie/Chuck slowly finds joy again. From his grandfather, Charlie/Chuck learns that basketball is a fitting metaphor for life, the same rules apply to both, and when you miss a shot you have to learn to rebound. Fans of The Crossover and Booked will not be disappointed in this newest gift from Alexander. Dawud Anyabwile provides the comics that illustrate Charlie’s dreams of basketball heroics.