Swing by Kwame Alexander

Title: Swing

Author: Kwame Alexander

Genre: Sports Fiction

Publisher: 2018 Blink

Length: 448 pages

Completed Reading: December 19, 2021

 

Summary

Swing by Kwame Alexander showcases the story of high schoolers, Noah and Walt, as they search to find their cool while juggling to understand major aspects of life. Themes such as love, race, politics, and violence appear throughout the novel that is written in poetic form.

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Teaching Swing

The text, which I highly anticipated reading, was introduced to me as part of what I’d be teaching in class this semester. I went into the novel with little background information after having not researched in an effort to maintain my anticipation and element of surprise.

The novel is used in the curriculum as an anchor text for a unit on tradition and progress. We are exploring, specifically, societal issues as they appear throughout the text. By the end of the unit, students will create an argumentative essay based on the research of systems that contribute to the inequities we face in today’s society.

There is an undeniably evident need for these controversial topics to be confronted in our classrooms. We have a responsibility to educate our youth on the realities of societal issues that each citizen plays a role in and is responsible for helping to improve.

Personal Connection with Text- Reader Response Strategy

My initial reaction to Swing was that it felt like home. I love poetry. I love baseball. I love boys.

It felt like I was reading a story playout from my childhood about my slugger big brother and his baseball-loving friends.

Then I reached the end… Walt’s brother is displaying PTSD, reminding me of the men in my family suffering from PTSD post-war. Then Walt is shot.

I am triggered.

My PTSD is triggered.

My PTSD is triggered in battle. I relive. I re-feel. I remember. I cry. I cry. I cry.

My PTSD is triggered in the battle of being Black in this country.

I re-feel the hurt from each and every story, like Walt’s, of my Brothers, lost at the hands of inequitable systems.

I remember.

Like Noah as he recalls his witness of Walt’s murder, I remember.

I cry for Walt.

I cry for Noah.

I cry for America.