Tag: family

Ms. Haigh Reads – The Crossover

Ms. Haigh

Cover of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is a story about family and basketball that is written in verse. This means that the entire novel is made up of poems. But don’t be turned off if you don’t like poetry, these poems are more like hip-hop lyrics and spoken word than ‘traditional’ poems.

The plot is easy to follow and focuses predominantly on the basketball games and lives of star athletes (and twin brothers) JB and Josh. Josh is the narrator and spends a large part of the book competing with his brother for acclaim on the court, and this competitive spirit is only heightened by their father, a former European league basketball champion who works them hard off the court. But when JB gets a girlfriend and Josh starts to realize that his dad is quietly suffering from a life threatening illness, everything changes.

This book is for you if you like sports, basketball, hip-hop/ rap or if you’ve ever felt that you were in competition with a friend or sibling.

Ms. Haigh reads – The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

Ms. Haigh
The Nest book Cover
The Nest book Cover

The Nest by Kenneth Oppel is a quick page turner that is both creepy and haunting.

Steve is a young man who will do anything to help his sickly newborn baby brother. Haunted by bad dreams, Steve’s reality and his imagination start to blur throughout the story and leave him constantly worrying and full of anxiety. Instead of relaxing for the summer, Steve spends his vacation fixated on the fact that his life feels like it is spinning out control.  But when a mysterious stranger comes to him in a dream and offers a way to make is brother better, how can Steve say no? But this deal is full of loopholes and may have disastrous consequences that will leave Steve fighting for more than just his baby brother’s life.

Not only is this eerie story an enjoyable read, but it is also littered with dark and creepy illustrations by Jon Klassen and is definitely worth checking out.