Review: The Crossover - Kwame Alexander

‘With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .
The court is SIZZLING.
My sweat is DRIZZLING.
Stop all that quivering.
Cuz tonight I'm delivering’

12-year-old Josh and his twin Jordan have basketball in their blood. They’re kings of the court, star players for their school team. Their father used to be a champion player and they each want nothing more than to follow in his footsteps.

Both on and off the court, there is conflict and hardship which will test Josh’s bond with his brother. In this heartfelt novel in verse, the boys find that life doesn’t come with a play-book and it's not all about winning.

Crossover Series:
Rebound
The Crossover

Visit Kwame Alexander's website for more information

Review:
Not being a teenager and knowing absolutely nothing about basketball, I think it's pretty safe to say I'm not really the target audience for this novel. I love verse novels though and seeing a video of the author reading part of the story had me curious enough to give it a try and I have to say I loved it far more than I expected to and I can see why it's won so many awards!

The story is about twelve-year-old twins who until now have been utterly obsessed with basketball, their father was a professional player who now focuses his energies on training his sons and they're both stars of their school team. It is about so much more than basketball though, it's also about growing up and growing apart, it's about finding your first love and how that changes things, it's about discovering things from your parent's past that you never knew before and it's about learning to deal with an emotional crisis.

Verse novels can be so much fun to read and this is definitely one of the better ones I've come across, the pacing is perfect and the language is clever. I think this will appeal to even the most reluctant reader and I'm handing my copy straight to my 13 year old nephew who I think will love it even more than I did!

And in case you want to watch the video I saw of Kwame Alexander reading from The Crossover here it is:



Source: Received from Andersen Press in exchange for an honest review

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Paperback / Kindle:

Review: The Adventures of the New Cut Gang - Philip Pullman

Lambeth, South London, 1894

Meet the New Cut gang - Benny, Thunderbolt, Bridie and the Peretti twins - the greatest detectives since Sexton Blake.  Who's passing counterfeit coins round Lambeth?  Surely not Thunderbolt's dad, who's been arrested.  And who's stolen the Worshipful Company of Gas-Fitters' silver?  With a little help from some colourful (and not always willing) accomplices, our heroes are soon blazing hot on the criminals' trail.

Here - published together for the first time, with all-new illustrations by Martin Brown - are Philip Pullman's classic tales of crime and detection: Thunderbolt's Waxwork and The Gas-Fitters' Ball - a pair of aces from the Master story-teller.

Visit Philip Pullman's website for more information

Review:
The Adventures of the New Cut Gang is a bind up of 2 stories by Philip Pullman that were originally published in the 1990's - Thunderbolt's Waxwork and The Gas-Fitters' Ball.  This is a beautiful hardback edition and has been wonderfully illustrated by Martin Brown making it a lovely book to hold a permanent position on any bookshelf.  I hadn't read either of these stories before but as a fan of Philip Pullman I couldn't wait to get stuck in and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

In Thunderbolt's Waxwork we are introduced to the New Cut gang, a rag tag group of mischievous children who want to be detectives.  In their first "case" they are determined to track down the person behind a spate of counterfeit coins doing the rounds in Lambeth.  Thunderbolt's dad has been arrested but they are sure it couldn't be him who was making the coins - can they find a way to prove it and have him released from prison? 

The Gas-Fitters' Ball continues the adventures of the New Cut gang, this time they are on the hunt for a burglar - someone has stolen the Gas-Fitters' silver trophies and the gang are intent on finding out who.  Can they beat the police to find the burglar?

I absolutely loved the characters that make up the New Cut gang.  You have leader Benny who has an imagination that often runs away with him and comes up with crazy plans bound to get them all in trouble, then there is Sam (AKA Thunderbolt) - he is the smart and studious one, Bridie is the hot tempered red head with a heart of gold who is always looking out for the others and her little brother Sharkie Bob who was probably my favourite.  A lot younger than the others he tags along wherever they go eating everything in sight.  You can't forget the Peretti twins Angela and Zerlina who may look like angels but you wouldn't want to end up on their bad side.

The stories themselves are fun and lighthearted adventures that had me laughing out loud as I read them.  They're perfect for bedtime reading and will be enjoyed by both children and adults.  The Victorian setting is well done and I loved the use of British slang.  I read on Philip Pullman's website that there were originally going to be 6 stories about the New Cut gang and I really hope he gets time to write the remaining 4 - I'll be first in the queue to buy them if he does!

Source: Received from RHCB in exchange for an honest review

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Thoughts from the Hearthfire
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