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The Crossover is a 2014 children's book by American author Kwame Alexander and the winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award Honor. The book, which is told entirely through verse, was first published in the United States in hardback on March 18, 2014 through HMH Books for Young Readers. The story follows two African-American twin brothers that share a love for basketball but find themselves drifting apart as they head into their junior high school years.


 * Josh Bell (“Filthy McNasty”) Bell
 * Jordan Bell (JB) Bell
 * Dad: Chuck Bell (“Da Man”), a former professional basketball player
 * Mom: Dr. Crystal Stanley-Bell, the assistant principal at the boys’ school (Reggie Lewis Junior High)

Reception
Critical reception for The Crossover has been positive and the book has received praise from the Washington Post and ''New York Times

Plot
Rose has been coming to a cottage in Awago every summer and meeting her summer friend, Windy, for as long as she can remember. Rose is about eighteen months older than Windy and is the narrator of the story. This summer, they start to explore their interest in boys and pay attention to the emotional lives of adults around them. Most of the adults and teenagers in the village (and in their families) are a "rogues' gallery of sad and burnt-out would-be role models." Life around Rose becomes miserable as her father leaves and returns to the city and her mother acts as if she does not want to be there.

Reception
Jodi Chromey from Minnesota Reads called the art, which is done all in shades of blue, "gorgeous." The Horn Book Magazine states that Jillian Tamaki's "rigorously composed, kinetic drawings teem with psychological nuance and action." Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Jillian and Mariko skillfully portray the emotional ups and downs of a girl on the cusp of adolescence." This One Summer won both a 2015 Printz Honor and Caldecott Honor award. It also won the 2015 Eisner Award. According to The New York Times, the book is a graphic novel for fans of coming-of-age stories with more complex themes and is a lovely book.

Plot summary
The timeline of this article takes place in 1863. The story is narrated by 12-year-old Homer Pierce Figg, an orphan from Pine Swan, Maine. Homer is trying to find and take back his older brother Harold, who was sworn into the Union army by a ruse. Upon his quest, he meets slave catchers, a traveling medicine show, a hot air balloonist and others — until he finally gets himself to Gettysburg. Even through a hail of gunfire, he survives and finds Harold. A stage version debuted at the Kennedy Center in 2012 by Tom Isbell.

Characters
Homer P. Figg - A mistreated orphan who goes on a mission to retrieve his older brother

Harold - Homer's older brother who is sold by his uncle and is forced to join the Union army.

Squinton Leach - Homer's Uncle and guardian who mistreats Homer and sells Harold into the Union Army. Homer describes him as, "The meanest man in the entire state of Maine"

Description
Snowflake Bentley is a medium size book, measuring 10 ½ by 10 ¼ inches, and has 16 pages of illustrations. Majority of the pictures are large colorful prints, which is the typical art style of artist Mary Azarian, and each picture summarizes the wording for that page. Many of the pages have a vertical side bar in each layout, with a light blue background, and white snowflakes that contains factual information about Wilson Bentley. Azarian also uses a black bold frame around her illustrations, which tries to represent a photo that has been taken.

Synopsis
Based on a true story, Martin has written about the first known snowflake photographer, Wilson Bentley, and his interests of capturing snowflakes. Wilson lived on a farm with his family in Jericho, Vermont, between Lake Champlain, and Mount Mansfield. The annual snowfall there can reach up to about 120 inches. Wilson was very fond of snowflakes, and wanted to one day capture them to share with others. With a telescope, Wilson tries to captivate the snowflakes through drawings, but could never finish because the snow would melt too fast. As Wilson grew older, he asked his parents if they could get him a camera, so that he can photograph snowflakes. Wilson’s parents decide to spend theirs savings to buy Wilson his camera, because they wanted to support his dreams in capturing snowflake photos. With his new profound camera, Wilson went out to take hundreds of pictures. At the beginning Wilson’s photos were a bunch of failures, but that did not stop him from pursuing his dream. Wilson furthered himself by experimenting more with lighting, lenses and camera exposures. Although, not many people were interested in what Wilson was up to, and did not care for pictures. When it wasn't winter, Wilson loved taking pictures of nature, but taking snow pictures would always be his favorite. Wilson would even hold evening slideshows on his lawn to show his friends. Later down the road, Wilson wrote a book about snow and published his photos in magazines. When Wilson went to go publish his first book to share to the world, he got caught in a blizzard on his trip, which caused him to catch pneumonia, and become ill. Two weeks later, Wilson dies of the illness. In memory of him, Wilson’s friends and neighbors built a museum of his work so all would know of “Snowflake” Bentley.

Critical Reception
Snowflake Bentley received many reviews. Kirkus reviews says “This is a lyrical biographical tribute to a farmer…whose love of snow and careful camera work expanded both natural science and photography”, and Horn book review says “The book exhibits a beautiful blend of Azarian’s splendid woodcuts, a lyrical text, and factual sidebars.” The New York Times review states that "Snowflake Bentley'' is a tale of intense dedication to something both mundane and glorious, and thus, I suspect, will fascinate children."

Plot
The novel is set in present-day West Virginia. The protagonist is Summer, an orphaned child who has been passed from one apathetic relative to another. At age six, she meets her Aunt May and Uncle Ob. The kindly old couple notices that, although Summer is not mistreated, she is virtually ignored by her caretakers and decide to take Summer home to their rickety trailer home in the hills of the Appalachian mountains. Summer thrives under their care, feeling that she finally has a home.

Six years after Summer moves in, Aunt May dies suddenly in the garden. Summer must cope with her own grief while worrying about Uncle Ob, who is overwhelmed by the thought of living without his beloved wife. Uncle Ob decides to try contacting May's spirit, after he experiences the sensation that she has tried to communicate with him. He is assisted in this endeavor by Cletus Underwood, a classmate of Summer's, who provides information on a supposed spirit medium of some renown. Summer views his ideas with some skepticism, but is willing to try anything that might alleviate her uncle's sorrow. The three take a roadtrip to meet with the medium, only to discover that she had recently died. Uncle Ob is initially crushed by this news, and Summer fears that this disappointment was the last blow to his will to live. However, on the return trip, Uncle Ob suddenly snaps out of his depression, deciding to continue living on for Summer's sake.

Characters

 * Summer- A young girl who serves as the main character and narrator of the story. She was orphaned as a baby, and was passed from relative to relative, until being taken in permanently by her Aunt May and Uncle Ob, who provided her with a happy, love-filled home. Summer is distraught when May dies, but is even more worried about Uncle Ob.


 * Uncle Ob- Summer's uncle and May's husband. He sinks into an extreme depression once May dies, and Summer fears that he has given up on living. He eventually becomes convinced that May's spirit is still visiting them, and seeks out a way to contact her. He is an accomplished craftsman, who has carved dozens of whirligigs over the years.


 * Cletus- A classmate of Summer's, he is viewed as the strangest student at her school. He meets Uncle Ob by chance shortly after May's death, and the two quickly become friends. Although Summer is not fond of him, she tolerates his presence since Ob enjoys his company. She begins to look more kindly upon him as time goes on. He claims to have had a near-death experience as a child, which gives Ob hope of being able to contact May's spirit.

Category:Newbery Medal-winning works Category:1992 novels Category:American children's novels Category:Novels set in Appalachia Category:Novels set in West Virginia Category:Novels about orphans