Book Review: Swing

One of the very best parts of my job is ALLLLLLL the books I get to read. Seriously. It's amazing and sometimes, when I get really lucky, I get to read these books before they are published. 

This weekend I had the incredible opportunity to read Swing, by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess which will be released on October 2. 

When I read a book, I'm looking for several things. 

• Any content/language issues that might cause an issue with parents
• Appropriateness for middle grades, specifically 7th and 8th as that is what we have at our school 
• Which students will this reach? Can my students see themselves in this book?
• Can I promote this book school-wide?
• Are there any curriculum connections that would make it a great book study? 
• Can I tie any maker space activities to this story?
• The cover: is it a book that looks like it is for elementary school kids or is it cool enough for middle schoolers? 

I do this for every single book I read. Now, don't get me wrong, I read the reviews and age recommendations but I don't rely on them. When I read the book myself, I have all the answers I need. I know what's in my collection. I know what my students will like. I know what gets snatched off the shelf with students fighting over who saw it first and what will sit there collecting dust unless I intervene. I know what the parents of MY students will be upset about and which parents will just be happy their kid has a book. 

I thought today I would share what I found while reading this beautiful book. Please don't take my word for it or think I'm some fancy-pants reviewer for Kirkus or SLJ. I'm not a professional reviewer. I'm just a middle school librarian who loves to read. Do your homework but here is what I found. 

I didn't find any real content or language issues that would be a problem in MY school setting. The main characters are juniors in high school and deal with some things that kids in high school are dealing with, but honestly, they are dealing with it in middle school too, and there is nothing in there that will prevent me from putting this on the shelves in my school. No language issues. No steamy scenes. Kwame told me it was for grades 7 and up and I completely support that. It is completely appropriate for my students. 

With some books, I have to work hard to convince the kids that it's a good book, especially when it has a cover geared more towards younger students. I'm going to be really honest, all I'll have to do is say Kwame's name and the kids will fight over it. I probably could not even say a word about this book and just put it out up front and the kids would grab it. They already know it's coming and they are already asking me to make a list for the first kids who will be able to check it out. Plus, the cover is just AMAZING!!!! Kudos to Blink Publishing because this cover is definitely something kids will pick up. 

Will it reach my students? Will it speak to them and their life circumstances? YES. So many of students have been through some hard things including rejection. There is so much resilience in this book and I love that Walt just keeps pushing to reach his goals. There is quote in this book that I love so much because it also speaks to some of the hard things I have been through in my life: 

There are SO MANY curriculum connections in this book with art, writing standards, and music, plus it is a great platform to discuss current events. Our students are not ignorant of the things happening around them, and many of my students have experienced social injustice in their lives. Our GAPP students did a Privilege Walk Friday and it was so powerful to see these students stepping forward every time an advantage had been afforded to them or stepping backwards when their life circumstances had made things that much more challenging. Each one of them had things they had to step forward for and things they stepped backwards for. You can do SO MUCH with this book! 

There are lots of cool maker space activities that I could see doing with this novel. First of all, lots of baseball activities that could tie in with Math (velocity of a swing or pitch anyone?), black-out poetry, coding Ozobots to play the melody of some of the Jazz songs mentioned, design challenges with lots and lots of American flags, letter writing stations, a sewing station (so Noah could fix...well, you'll find out...), etc. You could also do some amazing Soctratic seminars using this novel and some current events articles. You could also do some great activities demonstrating the value of people working together instead of against each other. 

Overall, I loved this book. It gave me all the feels. Give it all the stars. There were moments where I cried and moments where I laughed so hard. The book is written in verse, which my students love, and integrates some beautiful artwork in real-life application. Kwame and Mary did such an incredible job writing Solo and this is just as great. Go pre-order it now! You won't be sorry!