The Crossover

This book is all about basketball and is great for kids who love basketball. I have not found any questionable terminology in the book. You can read the first poem in the preview given on some websites, the terms are all referencing basketball. If they were used in a different manner some of the terms may be questionable, but as it stands they are completely appropriate. (i.e. "take this thumping" means that the boy is beating the other team. One of the meanings for thumping in the Oxford Living Dictionaries is "defeat heavily")

Many of the parent's reviews that state sexual content is overtly present in this book hasn't read many poetry books, especially the comment that stated the line, "getting under her skin" was a sexual innuendo. I implore you to explore the rest of Kwame Alexander's book before writing it off as crude, really get to know the author and his text before you write it off. I am a librarian who has studied and read this book multiple times. Kwame Alexander's work offers an honest, delightful, innovative and exciting story written from the perspective of young black boys, a perspective that should be present more heavily in the books we keep in our libraries. Kwame Alexander says this about his books, and this comment is why I will continue sharing his books with young readers. When Kwame was asked why he writes, he said, "to be authentic and tell my story. I was a black boy who laughed, had crushes, cried, played, felt, had troubling friendships, ate dinner with my family each evening. I want my writing to be a mirror for kids who look like me and a window for kids to look at different life and recognize it as very much like their own. I want every kid to know that they are worthy, valuable, and important." (http://neatoday.org/2016/06/01/kwame-alexander/)