Alexander sees the final result as using poetry as a vehicle that tells a beautiful story about this matter‑of‑fact Black family. The writing team focused on Alexander’s use of language, rhythm, rhyme, metaphor and simile to adapt the book. He knows that was not an easy task as he is a poet and that doesn’t necessarily translate to a TV script.
He credits writers Damani Johnson and Kimberly Harrison with keeping the essence of his book while taking it to a higher level. What Alexander thought a TV version of his book would look like and how it turned out for Disney+ were different. “The fact that we are sort of bouncing back between the future and the past and the present, that was never an idea or a plan, but it certainly is a blessing.” And, so, my journey with this book is really a metaphor for this TV series and where we are trying to go,” Alexander says. “It’s about these kids being told no after having been told ‘yes’ all their life on the court, off the court, with their crush, in school. There is plenty of basketball – both in the present and the future – but Alexander describes the TV version of his book as being about resilience. At the same time, he forced Alexander to read the dictionary, the encyclopedia and his Ph.D. His father was a basketball star in college who started taking him to the basketball courts when he was 2. This focus on both basketball and education reflects Alexander’s life. “The Crossover” focuses on a family of basketball players where teen brothers Josh (Hall) and Jordan (O’Neil) Bell are considered basketball phenoms. They are coached on the court in terms of net skills by their father and at home by their mother whose attention is more on education. Derek Luke, Jalyn Hall, Amir O’Neil, Sabrina Revelle and Daveed Diggs star in the series that launches April 5 on the streaming service. He did get a rousing yes from the executives with Disney Branded Television as the series that is based on the critically acclaimed best-selling novel in verse has become a Disney+ series. And somewhere in my head, I said, ‘This is a good book, Kwame. Bring them on.’ You know that once all the no’s have come to your party, eaten all your food and then gone home, what is left is the yes,” Alexander says. “Because it had been rejected 22 times and then eventually got published and won the Newbery Medal, I began to learn how to embrace the no’s. He was ready for any negative pushback when discussion started to turn the book into a TV series. Kwame Alexander found a unique way to deal with rejection after his book, The Crossover, was rejected countless times.
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