Rebound Book Review

 


Rebound

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, K. (2018). Rebound. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 978-1-71374-862-5

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Charlie has recently lost his father and his way in life. His mom decides he needs to spend the summer at his grandparents’ house. His grandfather quickly puts him to work as part of their “team”. He also accompanies him to the Boys and Girls Club to read his comics and play video games. His cousin, Roxie, has other plans. She coerces him into playing basketball where he fails miserably. That is until one day, he is forced again to play and makes the winning dunk. From that point on, he devotes his time to learning every aspect of the game. Finding peace with the death of his father and moving forward (rebounding) with his life. 


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This young adult verse novel is a prequel to The Crossover. This novel follows Chuck Bell, the father of Josh and Jordan. The illustrations are minimal but in comic strip form. They emulate the superhero like feelings of Chuck’s experiences. The characters are developed in a way that you feel familiar with them. Readers of all ages will relate to the loss of a loved one. The overall theme is finding yourself and don’t let life pass you by. Chuck’s journey from self pitying teen to confidence in all aspects of life. I really enjoyed this graphic novel as it was an excellent prequel to The Crossover. It ties in with the hurt Chuck felt when his father died as his twins felt when he died. 


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

  • ALA Notable Children's Books, 2019

  • Booklist starred, 03/15/18

  • Booklist starred, 10/15/18 *

  • Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 05/01/18

  • Horn Book Guide starred, 11/01/18

  • Horn Book Magazine, 11/01/18 *

  • Horn Book Magazine starred, 07/01/18

  • Kirkus Reviews starred, 03/15/18

  • New York Times, 04/22/18

  • Publishers Weekly Annex, 04/16/18

  • School Library Journal, 01/01/19 *

  • School Library Journal starred, 04/01/18

  • Teacher Librarian, 06/01/19

  • Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), 04/01/18


  • Booklist starred (March 15, 2018 (Vol. 114, No. 14))

  • Grades 6-9. It’s the end of the school year in 1988, and Charlie Bell is flattened by the death of his father. Charlie tries to hide in the pages of his comic book collection, much to his mother’s despair. Finally she ships him off to stay with his grandparents for the summer. At first it’s just a fresh form of misery, as Charlie’s acidic grandfather goads him into physical activity in the stifling heat. Then his cousin Roxie coaxes him onto the basketball court. It’s the combination of family, friends, and mad new skills that finally help Charlie begin to rebound from his father’s death. Charlie Bell is the father of twins Jordan and Josh Bell, stars of Alexander’s Newbery Medal–winning novel Crossover (2014). Fans of Crossover will remember that Chuck “Da Man” Bell played professional basketball, and they’ll be intrigued by his initial resistance to learning the game. But this is an Alexander production, so the plot, as rich and satisfying as it is, is outdazzled by the brilliance of wordplay and syntax. There is a rhythm to each page, whether it’s the snappy give-and-take of dialogue, the throbbing of Charlie’s bottomless melancholy, or the rushing excitement of a basketball game. In addition, comics-style illustrations by Emmy-­winning artist Anyabwile bring Charlie’s fantasies of basketball glory to life. Librarians who delighted at Crossover’s popularity will be thrilled with this pitch-perfect follow-up. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Alexander is unstoppable, and his fans will be too. Have extra copies at the ready.


5. CONNECTIONS

Related books:

Alexander, K. (2020). The Crossover. Clarion Books. ISBN: 9781328960016

Reynolds, J. (2016).  Ghost. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. ISBN: 9781481450157


Activities:

Create a story set in poetic verse

Author study on Kwame Alexander

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Environmental Scan

  Have you ever thought about how information technology impacts the learning of our students and their environment?  “The environmental scan method is designed to enable decision makers to understand the external environment and translate this understanding into an institution’s planning processes.(Cohen Group p.3) In this blog post, I’ll be discussing an environmental scan of my school Covenant Christian School, the communities we serve, and how we can improve.  While on the campus of Covenant, students are given broadband internet access on their school issued device. In PreK- Kindergarten, students use an iPad as their device. In grades 1st-6th, students use a designated Chromebook from a class set checked out to their teacher. All Elementary devices stay on campus in their respective classrooms.  In grades 7th-12th, students are checked out a Chromebook and charger for the year to be returned at the end of the school year. Secondary devices can be taken home to be used but must be
Read more

AI-Assisted Newsletter

Image
 I began my ChatGPT journey with the prompt "create a school library newsletter for elementary students about summer reading". This was the initial result I got.  I reran the the query with additional sections to include; here is the result for that newsletter. I found a template on Canva for a summer infographic and copied the sections from ChatGPT. I am  pleased with the entire process. The LinkedIn course helped me to decide how to generate more specific newsletter sections and if it would be appealing to my audience. One of the cons I found was that the book recommendations are dated and the author interview was with Mary Pope Osborne. Another is that it lacked emotion so that would lead to more editing on my part.  When speaking with my group, two of us got very similar newsletters. Our other group member had a very different result with the same prompt. This goes to show that although AI can be beneficial, it's not consistent. When just starting out this can be time
Read more

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow Book Review

Image
 Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow 1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow . Scholastic Inc., 2016.  ISBN: 0439353793 2.  PLOT SUMMARY  Hitler Youth begins with the murder of Hebert Norkus of the Hitler Youth. He joined after his mother died and enjoyed the activities on the weekends. The Red (Communists) were on the attack and he had to be careful while passing out propaganda. One day, a group of 40 Reds chased him down and stabbed him to death. Hitler called him a martyr and planned an elaborate funeral which inspired more youth to join the cause. The Nazi party rose to power with the help of their youth. 70,000 of them turned out to listen to Hitler at a rally. This led to many ready to die for their cause. In the first chapter, the book focuses on Hitler’s rise to power first as the Chancellor (2nd in line of power). He wanted to unify Germany to fight back on sanctions from WWI. In the second chapter the Hitler Youth exp
Read more