The Crossover

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Confidence and Vulnerability

Both Josh and his father struggle with the dichotomy of confidence and vulnerability throughout the novel. Each feels compelled to present a strong front even when they are unsure of themselves.

At the beginning of this story, Josh does not lack confidence. However, as the story progresses, Josh loses his footing and is set off-balance, first by the disruption of his relationship with JB, then by the declining health of his father. Josh builds his confidence on exterior factors: he’s a basketball star; his family is a happy, cohesive unit; and he’s best friends with his twin brother. When these exterior supports begin to deteriorate, Josh has to look inward to discover who he is and what he is capable of, rendering him vulnerable to love, loss, and pain.

Cutting his locs is another example of Josh’s struggle with confidence and vulnerability. Without his locs, he loses another part of his identity, as they were the only thing that differentiated him from his brother. As JB spends more time with Alexis and Josh struggles with the loss of his locs, which also connect him with his father, he has to face his fears around his identity and his family.

Chuck struggles with confidence and vulnerability throughout the novel as his health deteriorates due to unhealthy eating habits. While instilling strong values of health and athletics in his sons, he disregards his own health, with deadly consequences. Josh idolizes his father, and Chuck wants to appear strong for him and JB. He also harbors fears about his father’s death and remains in denial about his own health issues until it is too late.

Josh and Chuck’s character arcs come together in the novel’s climax. In the final seconds of the championship game, knowing his father is gone, Josh makes the game-winning shot with tears streaming down his face. In the end, he regains his confidence by accepting his vulnerabilities, working through them instead of hiding behind a strong façade.

Basketball as Life Lessons

There are 10 rules for basketball throughout the story, and each one easily doubles as life advice. The first rule, equating the basketball with the heart and family with the court encompasses the novel’s main lesson, which is for Josh to keep his heart with his family, even when life becomes difficult. Rule 2, which Chuck sends to Josh as a text, is to work smart and play hard but also to live smarter and practice harder. This means that hard work is more important than the reward and that nothing comes without dedication. Josh sometimes takes this advice too literally, as when he loses in wind springs on purpose so he can practice basketball.

Rule 3 is to never let anyone lower your goals and is a lesson Josh’s parents apply to both school and basketball. They want their sons to believe in themselves on and off the court because they will have to make choices and form goals in life long after they stop playing basketball. Rule 4, about the danger of missing free throws, is more of a warning and foreshadows Chuck’s health issues and eventual death. The rule foregrounds the importance of paying attention to small details that can have a large effect on the outcome of the game, or of one’s life.

When Josh is trying to find a way back into JB’s good graces after throwing a ball at his brother’s face, he applies Rule 7, which talks about the importance of rebounding. When a fissure finally appears in JB’s angry façade and Josh sees a potential shift for good in their relationship, he refers to Rule 8 about fading away (stepping back) to make the shot or achieve his goal.

Each rule comes at a time when Josh is learning something new about himself. Even though Josh says the rules come from his father, Rule 10—that loss is inevitable but champions persevere—is written after his father passes away. This has a double meaning because the rule could be something that Josh remembers his father saying, or Josh could have written the rule himself. Either way, his father’s legacy continues in how Josh interprets or creates the rules.

Music, Rhythm, and Identity

Rhythm plays an important structural role in each layer of the story. As a novel written in verse, the book foregrounds the alternating rhythm of the poems to keep the story moving forward. The language’s rhythm shows the intensity of Josh’s emotions from joy to sorrow as he moves through different phases in his life. Each poem speeds up or slows down according to what is happening in the story at the time, signaling important moments that contain or foreshadow a major plot event.

The rhythm of the poetry mimics the rhythm of basketball: the sounds and movements as well as the sights mirror the balletic and competitive aspects of the game. Josh’s dad compares basketball to the rhythm of jazz music, moving forward, then from side to side, backward again, unpredictable and familiar at the same time. The rhythm of Josh’s life is steady and confident at the start. He is great at school, amazing at basketball, adores his family, and loves his teammates and friends. Then his rhythm is disrupted by the new girl in school “stealing” his brother away, and his world unravels from there.

The rhythm of Josh’s dad’s heart ties in with the book’s message about the inevitability of loss, finding the resilience to keep going, and the importance of living on one’s own terms. When everything seems out of sync, Josh picks up the ball and finds his own rhythm, healing his relationship with his brother and honoring his father in the process.