Can Josh, a basketball player who, as he puts it, is “Always AGITATING / COMBINATING / and ELEVATING his game,” succeed without his twin, Jordan, alongside him?
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[STARRED REVIEW]
Twins Josh and Jordan are junior high basketball stars, thanks in large part to the coaching of their dad, a former professional baller who was forced to quit playing for health reasons, and the firm, but loving support of their assistant-principal mom. Josh, better known as Filthy McNasty, earned his nickname for his enviable skills on the court: “ . . . when Filthy gets hot/He has a SLAMMERIFIC SHOT.” In this novel in verse, the brothers begin moving apart from each other for the first time. Jordan starts dating the “pulchritudinous” Miss Sweet Tea, and Josh has a tough time keeping his jealousy and feelings of abandonment in control. Alexander’s poems vary from the pulsing, aggressive beats of a basketball game (“My shot is F L O W I N G, Flying, fluttering . . . ringaling and SWINGALING/Swish. Game/over”) to the more introspective musings of a child struggling into adolescence (“Sit beside JB at dinner. He moves./Tell him a joke. He doesn’t even smile . . . .Say I’m sorry/but he won’t listen”). Despite his immaturity, Josh is a likable, funny, and authentic character. Underscoring the sports and the fraternal tension is a portrait of a family that truly loves and supports one another. Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heart and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal.
Josh and Jordan (JB), identical twin sons of former basketball phenom Chuck “Da Man” Bell, are ball legends themselves, and they aren’t yet thirteen; Josh is the only middle schooler around who can dunk, JB has a mean three-point shot, and together they’re a well-oiled machine on the court. But then things start to change, as they tend to do at their age: JB gets a girlfriend, and before Josh knows it, their relationship is strained to the point of a mid-game altercation that lands him benched for weeks. On top of that, their mother frets constantly over Dad’s poor health, and the boys begin to worry, too. Josh’s first-person verse narration is a combination of exciting play-by-play game details, insightful middle-school observations, and poignant meditations on sibling dynamics and familial love. Since poet Alexander has the swagger and cool confidence of a star player and the finesse of a perfectly in-control ball-handler, wordplay and alliteration roll out like hip-hop lyrics, and the use of concrete forms and playful font changes keep things dynamic: “SWOOP in / to the finish with a fierce finger roll… / Straight in the hole: / Swoooooooooooosh.” Alexander brings the novel-in-verse format to a fresh audience with this massively appealing package for reluctant readers, athletes especially. katrina hedeen