Rebound

Charlie Bell is still reeling from his father's sudden death.  He's getting in trouble at school and with his best friend, Skinny, and his relationship with his mother is struggling.  She's at the end of her rope, so she decides to send Charlie to live with his grandparents in Washington, D.C. for the summer.

He doesn't want to go, but she doesn't give him a choice.  Charlie wanted to spend the summer hanging out with his two best friends, Skinny and CJ.  Maybe he likes CJ a little more than he wants to admit. 

Once he gets to D.C, people start calling him Chuck (which he kind of likes), and he gets reacquainted with his cousin Roxie.  When he's not doing chores and getting lectured by his grandfather, he's learning how to really play basketball with Roxie and discovering he might actually like the game. 

He's also learning some things about his father.  Just like Chuck, his dad also read comic books.  Reading his dad's old Black Panther comics helps Chuck feel closer to him.

This prequel to The Crossover is also told in verse with several comic panels mixed in to show Chuck's fantasy version of himself. 

First, I just have to say that I love Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  It is amazing and wonderful!  This book was just ok for me.  I wanted to love it.  I started reading with excitement and joy in my heart, but it just didn't have the same impact.  Sometimes the poetry was amazing; sometimes it was not.  Plus, the dialogue was just confusing if there were more than two speakers.  (What do you have against quotation marks, friend?)

That said, the comic panels really worked, and I will certainly recommend this to kids.