About the Author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times best-selling author of twenty-eight books, including Rebound, the prequel to his Newbery Medal[en dash]winning middle grade novel, The Crossover. Other works include Booked, a National Book Award nominee; The Playbook: 52 Rules to Help You Aim, Shoot, and Score in this Game of Life; and picture books Out of Wonder, Surf's Up, and The Undefeated. The 2018 NEA Read Across America Ambassador, Kwame is also the host and producer of the literary variety/talk show Bookish, which airs on Facebook Watch, the cofounding director of the LEAP for Ghana initiative, and the founding editor of Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. The recipient of the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award, Kwame lives with his family in Virginia. www.kwamealexander.com.
Twitter and Instagram: @kwamealexander

Dawud Anyabwile is an Emmy Award winning artist, illustrator and co-creator of the groundbreaking comic book series Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline. Anyabwile has worked with companies such as Cartoon Network, Turner Studios, NBA TV, Nickelodeon, and many others as a character designer, storyboard artist, illustrator, and concept artist. Anyabwile illustrated the graphic novel adaptation of the New York Times best selling novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Anyabwile now volunteers, teaches art classes to young students, and gives lectures when he isn't working on his art.
Instagram: @brotehrmancomix

Reviews

? "This graphic-novel adaptation of Alexander's 2015 Newbery Medal winner offers powerful visuals to an already-cherished narrative....Veteran comics illustrator Anyabwile brings an expansive range of black-boy emotional expressiveness to the page, accompanied by a striking attention to detail and pop-cultural reference....Flashy and engaging with emotional depth--a slam-dunk thrill."--Kirkus, STARRED review ? "A fresh look at the Newbery Medal-winning book, still told in verse but now stunningly illustrated by Anyabwile....With lively poems that use basketball as a metaphor for life, this mix of free verse, hip-hop, and powerful artwork will resonate with fans of the original book and inspire a new audience of nascent players, artists, and poets."--School Library Journal, STARRED review "An energetic and lively re-envisioning, this transformation of the original text into a combination of visuals, poetry, and changing font styles will be sure to engage young readers who are both familiar and unfamiliar with Alexander's original work."--Booklist "With confident strokes and choice details...the graphic version brings out the best in the original, as any good teammate should."--Publishers Weekly "Alexander's Newbery Medal-winning verse novel of the same name (rev. 5/14), about African American twins and middle-school b-ballers Josh and JB Bell, is an ideal choice for graphic-novel adaptation, with its on-court action, swagger­ing narrative voice, and poignant emotional pitches. The original novel's success mingling accessible poetry with basketball, middle-school dynam­ics, and Black boyhood is reinforced by Anyabwile's impressive visual interpreta­tion. " --The Horn Book --