It would work well as an upper primary through to lower secondary whole class text. Readers can enjoy the satisfaction of completing a story in one sitting and getting to know the voices of the characters. It is already hugely successful, and the genre of the verse novel has become extremely popular in recent years and with good reason. This is the Newbury Medal-winning author’s third verse novel, and it has been shortlisted for the Carnegie, and the CLiPPA prizes 2019.
The punctuation of The Last Shot brought me to a standstill when reading it for the first time, imitating the movements in the basketball match. The innovative use of fonts, sizing and punctuation, reminded me of concrete poetry, where image is integral to meaning. The occasional comic strips by Dawud Anyabwile represent Charlie’s fantasies and memories. The visual aspects of Rebound are central to the power of the text. At the same time, CJ’s ability to effortlessly talk to Charlie nonstop shows true friendship. The monosyllabic conversations between Charlie and Mom demonstrate how they can’t find a way through their collective grief. The corny rhymes and home truths of Granddaddy and the calming words of Grandma together with her fried chicken and peach pie nurture Charlie’s soul.
At different moments different voices take centre stage. This verse novel is like a finely crafted piece of music. ‘ Why can’t/ my mother/ understand/ that the shoes/ are not just/ for my feet/ but my heart,/ too?’ Yet his yearning for Air Jordans leads him astray. There he eventually finds himself under the influence of his cousin Roxie, his straight-talking Granddaddy and basketball. When he is not entirely truthful, his mum sends him away to his grandparents. Unable to talk about his sorrow, Charlie Bell retreats into his comics, stays close to his two school friends and freezes at the sound of a siren. Rebound is a verse novel about a long, hot American summer and the grief of a young man who has suddenly lost his father – ‘ my star exploded/ and everything/ froze‘.
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