Now if we weren't in the middle of flooding and torrential rain here in AZ, I would probably already have the physical copy in my hot little hands right now... But alas! I must wait a little longer for the UPS man to show up.
Swing is a wonderfully written YA book-in-verse about best friends Walt and Noah. Walt loves playing baseball, even though he's terrible at it, and he also loves jazz music. Walt is a positive thinker, a do-er, a talker. He's the kind of kid that could make friends with a wall. His positive attitude is inspirational, so much that he gets a phrase tattooed on his shoulder that expresses his life philosophy: HUG Life. Not THUG Life, HUG Life!
"You must embrace life with a metaphorical hug, and sometimes a literal hug, to really squeeze the life juice, the goodness, out of living."
Noah is wrapped up in girl troubles. He has a crush on Samantha, who he and Walt have known since they were kids. Noah has always been too shy to ask her out and now that Sam is dating the star baseball player, Noah feels like he will never get the chance to tell Sam how he feels. But Noah is a gifted artist and his art (along with some old love letters) may be his saving grace to finally capture Sam's heart.
"YOU DREW THIS FOR SAM?
No, not for her.
You know what I mean dude. WOW! This is not just a drawing. This is game-changing, paradigm-shifting-ish stuff, Noah!"
This book has everything I look for in an "unputdownable" YA book! It is written in-verse, so you are able to read a few pages at a time (say, like in a school carpool line) without having to re-set the tone or mood of the book. It is also written in the language of your typical teenager, which makes the characters very relatable. The the nervousness of high school crushes keeps you laughing, instances of politics and social injustice keeps you thinking (and questioning), and an unreliable narrator keeps you guessing. The book also has pictures. Yes! Pictures and poetry that help bring everything together. If you've ever read a Kwame Alexander book, you really look forward to the blackout poetry and other unique nuances that help tell the story. The way the friendship between Walt and Noah is written is genuine and that is what made me want to read the book straight through.
Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess really have a connection when writing books together. They co-authored YA novel Solo, as well as a non-fiction book titled Animal Ark: Celebrating our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures. When reading Swing, you often forget that the book was written by 2 different authors. I really hope they collaborate on another book soon!
Read Swing and share it with others! Embrace the HUG Life!
"A setback is a setup waiting for a comeback"
~ Walt Jones in the book Swing ~
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