Friends of the UNCG Libraries

If you haven't done so, check out, purchase, or pull out a copy of Kwame Alexander's novel, The Crossover .  Alexander will visit UNC Greensboro and Bookmarks in September, and some of you will get to meet him.  You might think the book, which won the Newbery Award as the best in children's literature this past year, is a novel in verse for young people about basketball, but it's a lot more than that. As one observer writes, "You don't have to be a basketball fan to feel the exhilaration of a game well played in Kwame Alexander's novel.  You don't have to be a poetry fan either to appreciate the verve and variety of his verse, but chances are, after reading this book, you'll become one." As fellow author Ashley Bryan writes " The Crossover crosses over as gift to all ages." A sample of the poetry of The Crossover (click on the image to enlarge it) Don't miss the opportunity. Experience The Crossover and meet Kwame Ale...

There’s a certain sublime beauty one sometimes encounters in the course of reading or doing research.   Scholars know the feeling of immersion into a pool of sources so deep that one cannot dive deep enough to find all of that is in the pool, yet the diving itself takes on a certain special joy. This happened to me this week, as a circle completed itself.   I was taking the opportunity to read Kwame Alexander’s novel in verse, The Crossover , which won the Newbery Award for the best in children’s literature this past year.   Mr. Alexander is visiting UNCG and Bookmarks in September, a visit I am pleased to recommend and coordinate.   Our Libraries’ annual children’s book author and storyteller series is near and dear to my heart, and I always enjoy putting it together.    When I finished The Crossover , which is a superb book for readers of any age to dive into, I read a blurb at the end from Ashley Bryan, two-time winner of the Coretta Scott K...

When and Where: In Greensboro at UNCG, 7 p.m. September 14 in the Elliott University Center Auditorium In Winston-Salem at the Bookmarks Festival , Saturday, September 12   (10:15 a.m. Winston Square Park) Both free and open to the public. Kwame Alexander is a poet and author of eighteen books, including The Crossover, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The Crossover is a novel in verse for young people. Other works include Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band (the 2014 Michigan Reads One Book Selection), and the young adult novel He Said, She Said (a Junior Library Guild Selection). He is the founder of Book-in-a-Day, a student-run publishing program that has created more than 3000 student authors; and LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy project that builds libraries, trains teachers, and empowers children through literature. He visits schools and libraries, has owned...