Kwame Alexander
All Books By Kwame Alexander
An American Story
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 11 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: January 03, 2023
- Language: English
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4.7(214 ratings)
#1 New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author of The Undefeated, Kwame Alexander, pens a powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.
From the fireside tales in an African village, through the unspeakable passage across the Atlantic, to the backbreaking work in the fields of the South, this is a story of a people’s struggle and strength, horror and hope. This is the story of American slavery, a story that needs to be told and understood by all of us. A testament to the resilience of the African American community, this book honors what has been and envisions what is to be.
With stunning mixed-media illustrations by newcomer Dare Coulter, this is a potent book for those who want to speak the truth. Perfect for family sharing, the classroom, and homeschooling.
Booked
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 2 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 05, 2016
- Language: English
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4.19(16228 ratings)
In this middle grade novel-in-verse by the Newbery Medal-winning and Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winning author of “The Crossover,” soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.
... Read moreHe Said, She Said
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 7 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: June 28, 2019
- Language: English
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3.51(1132 ratings)
Sparks will fly in this hip-hop-hot teen novel that mixes social protest and star-crossed romance, from Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Kwame Alexander! He Said, She Said is perfect for fans of Walter Dean Myers and Rachel Vail alike. This paperback edition includes a Q&A with author Kwame Alexander. He says: Omar “T-Diddy” Smalls has got it made-a full football ride to UMiami, hero-worship status at school, and pick of any girl at West Charleston High. She says: Football, shmootball. Here’s what Claudia Clarke cares about: Harvard, the poor, the disenfranchised, the hungry, the staggering teen pregnancy rate, investigative journalism . . . the list goes on. She does not have a minute to waste on Mr. T-Diddy Smalls and his harem of bimbos. He Said, She Said is a fun and fresh novel from Kwame Alexander that throws these two high school seniors together when they unexpectedly end up leading the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi-with a lot of help from Facebook and Twitter. The stakes are high, the romance is hot, and when these worlds collide, watch out!
... Read moreHow to Read a Book
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 5 minutes
- Publisher: HarperCollins
- Publish date: June 18, 2019
- Language: English
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3.84(2217 ratings)
2020 Audie Awards(r) Finalist – Young Reader
Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander narrates the audiobook version of his How to Read a Book, a poetic journey about the experience of reading.
Find a tree–a
black tupelo or
dawn redwood will do–and
plant yourself.
(It’s okay if you prefer a stoop, like Langston Hughes.)
With these words, an adventure begins. Kwame Alexander’s evocative poetry takes listeners on a sensory journey between the pages of a book.
... Read moreLight For The World To See
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 13 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: November 17, 2020
- Language: English
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4.28(1677 ratings)
From NPR correspondent and New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Alexander, comes a powerful and provocative collection of poems that cut to the heart of the entrenched racism and oppression in America and eloquently explores ongoing events.   A book in the tradition of James Baldwin’s “A Report from Occupied Territory,”  Light for the World to See is a rap session on race. A lyrical response to the struggles of Black lives in our world . . . to America’s crisis of conscience . . . to the centuries of loss, endless resilience, and unstoppable hope.   Includes an introduction by the author and a bold, graphically designed interior.
... Read moreOut of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 2 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: March 20, 2018
- Language: English
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4.36(1434 ratings)
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. Stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration, inviting the viewer to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
... Read moreRebound
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 3 hours 33 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 02, 2018
- Language: English
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4.31(11601 ratings)
From the New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander comes Rebound, the dynamic prequel to his Newbery Award-winning novel in verse, The Crossover. Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshiping, basketball star his sons look up to. A novel in verse with all the impact and rhythm readers have come to expect from Kwame Alexander, Rebound will go back in time to visit the childhood of Chuck “Da Man” Bell during one pivotal summer when young Charlie is sent to stay with his grandparents where he discovers basketball and learns more about his family’s past.
... Read moreThe Crossover
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Jalyn Hall
- Length: 2 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Clarion Books
- Publish date: December 13, 2022
- Language: English
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4.26(49673 ratings)
The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning middle grade bestseller! Basketball and heartache share the court in this slam-dunk novel in verse.
“With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . . The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. ‘Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood–he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line.
In this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander, Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story’s heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
Streaming series coming soon on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James!
... Read moreThe Crossover
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 2 hours 16 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: July 11, 2014
- Language: English
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4.26(49673 ratings)
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Review Quotes: “This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. . . . Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.” –“Kirkus, ” starred review “Alexander fully captures Josh’s athletic finesse and coming-of-age angst in a mix of free verse and hip-hop poetry that will have broad appeal. . . . This will inspire budding players and poets alike.” –“Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, “starred review “The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh’s sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worth triumph to profound pain.” –“Publishers Weekly, “starred review
... Read moreThe Door of No Return
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 3 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: September 27, 2022
- Language: English
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4.43(2117 ratings)
Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions.
11-year-old Kofi Offin dreams of water. Its mysterious, immersive quality. The rich, earthy scent of the current. The clearness, its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets…
Kofi has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, in the village where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just an ordinary boy so he’s hoping to finally prove himself in front of Ama and his friends in a swimming contest against his older, stronger cousin.
But before this can take place, a festival comes to the villages of Upper and Lower Kwanta and Kofi’s brother is chosen to represent Upper Kwanta in the wrestling contest. Encircled by cheering spectators and sounding drums, the two wrestlers from different villages kneel, ready to fight.
You are only fine, until you are not.
The match is over before it has barely begun, when the unthinkable-a sudden death-occurs…
The river does not care how grown you are.
As his world turns upside down, Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.
The Playbook
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 1 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: February 14, 2017
- Language: English
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4.23(2619 ratings)
A companion book to his bestselling and Newbery winning book The Crossover, The Playbook is Kwame Alexander’s dynamic, sports-infused guide to life! You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for ourselves? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives? The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration for kids ages ten and up to help them succeed on and off the court. Each rule contains wisdom from inspiring athletes and role models such as Nelson Mandela, Serena Williams, LeBron James, Carli Lloyd, Steph Curry and Michelle Obama. Kwame Alexander also provides his own words of inspiration and uplift, as he shares his stories of overcoming obstacles and winning games.
... Read moreWhy Fathers Cry at Night
- By: Kwame Alexander
- Narrator: Kwame Alexander
- Length: 3 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: May 23, 2023
- Language: English
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4.21(328 ratings)
This powerful memoir from a #1 New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medalist features poetry, letters, recipes, and other personal artifacts that provide an intimate look into his life and the loved ones he shares it with.
In a powerfully intimate and non-traditional (or “new-fashioned”) memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1967, to the sometimes-confusing ways they showed their love to each other, and for him. He explores his own relationships—his difficulties as a newly wedded, 22-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. Alexander attempts to deal with the unravelling of his marriage and the grief of his mother’s recent passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters.Full of heartfelt reminisces, family recipes, love poems, and personal letters, Why Fathers Cry at Night inspires bravery and vulnerability in every reader who has experienced the reckless passion, heartbreak, failure, and joy that define the whirlwind woes and wonders of love. ... Read more