Back in 2019 I bought a used copy of this book, wondering if one of the boys (into basketball) might read it for school. I'd noted the high ratings, I had NOT noticed it was in "verse". Neither the boys, not I got around to reading it, it just stayed on the shelf. Fast forward to 2014 and my nephew needs to read it for school and knowing I have a good library, my SIL asked if we had a copy (as the library was backed up). I figured I'd give it a quick read (because while it is 200+ pages, there's tons of white space). I was able to snag the audio, just two hours. 

I first experienced "verse" last year with Jason Reynold's "Long Way Down" (and have tried out a few more since then.) The book had been highly recommended, but when I realized it was poetry I thought "well that's not for me"... but when I noted it was available, and only a couple hours, I gave it a try. And wow, it really impacted me. I ended up buying a physical copy, checking out the graphic novel. 

Same with this story ... I started with the audio. It doesn't feel like "poetry" when it's spoken, although this did have quite a few sections with rhyme. I liked the listen ... then the look, and seeing the spacing and reviewing the story with my eyes.

I'm a Table of Contents snob ... I liked how the TOC was set up in the ebook (the library didn't have the Kindle copy available, so I had to read the epub, ugggg ... I'm also a Kindle snob!) That there were six sections: Warm Up, First Quarter, Second Quarter, Third Quarter, Fourth Quarter and Overtime. The "chapters" or separate poems within each section. I know the parts are fairly obvious ... but in audio, I didn't quite catch the format, didn't distinguish that the "Fourth Quarter" was a section heading, not just a title. I think in the print copy (because, per usual unfortunately, there is no TOC in the hardcopy) again, it would be easy just to turn that page that has the header on, without taking into account how it plays out. Unless you SEE it on the TOC, sometimes that set-up might be missed (at least by me!) It's part of what makes this book what it is. I also like the TOC to look over the "titles" of the poems ... just that word or sentence, reading them down the list, can bring back that portion of the story, and give me a location to go to if I wanted to re-read a certain portion. 

My boys play basketball, so I liked all the basketball talk. This is one of those books where the characters are black, but I didn't feel like race really came into play? The story wasn't about being black, it was about a family, and playing ball. 

Another aspect I really enjoyed was the focus on certain words ... Crossover (which of course is the title, and had multiple meanings throughout ... oomph!), calamity, pulchritudinous, hypertension, ironic, churlish, profusely ... there is a vocabulary lesson in addition to the story (found this in the zombie apocalypse The City series [book:Mordacious|30367410]). 

I peeked at some online school assignments, discussion questions ... for me, reading strictly for enjoyment can be less likely to get a 5* rating. Sometimes I need that extra nudge, to think about things I might not have on my own, to delve a little deeper, which more often than not, increases my appreciation for a written work. 

There's a graphic novel, and I've already checked it out and started reading it - looks like a great adaptation. I see it's been made into a mini-series on Disney, but that doesn't have great ratings, so I probably won't spend the time looking at that. 

Glad for the little push to read this (as I'm loaning it out, there's always the chance I won't get it back, so I wanted to read it myself while I had the hardcopy on hand/even though I went with audio for the most part. ) I really would like my boys to read it (even though it's YA, the MC is in middle school) and see what they think.  Audio was available on Hoopla and Libby.