Solo

Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess (ISBN: 978-0-310-76183-9)

Well, one of my favorites has struck again!  Kwame Alexander is really on fire with his YA-free-verse-lyric-filled-multi-format novels (this is a phrase I just invented to describe his genre).  This story is told in free verse, but also includes lyrics and homages to famous songs, text chains, non-punctuated dialogue threads, and an adventure to Ghana.

Blade is the son of a famous rock-and-roll god: Rutherford Morrison*.  This means he pretty much can buy whatever he want and his family's name appears in tabloid magazines weekly.  But his dad is famous more now for debauchery and public embarrassment than notable music or humanitarian endeavors.  Blade is always left in fear that he'll wake up to a dead father or more public shame.  To make matters worse, his mother is already dead, and his sister cannot seem to understand why he doesn't want the life he's been given.

A quest for self-discovery leads him to the fact that his biological parents might not be the ones he grew up with, and he journeys half way around the world to discover his true self.  Picture the scene:
"When we get/ to the point/ where vehicles/can no longer/ pass,/ Elvis explains/ that we will walk/ a trail/ then hike/ a mountain,/ cross three canopies,/ above/ the rainforest/ and arrive/ at the village."

This novel is full of beautiful language, enlightening descriptions of a people far away, and the realization that life isn't about what you have, but who you share it with.  Blade journeys from love to hate to understanding.  His father journeys from life to addiction to death and acceptance.  I have a few complaints about the way this story evolved - especially a romance in the early chapters. Some readers may have a hard time resonating with a person whose life is so full of opulence and wealth (who can just fly to Africa for an indeterminate amount of time?). But overall, it conveys a strong message at the end: "Hope never drowns... Hope swims."

Here is a spiffy video of Kwame Alexander explaining how he arrived at such a music-filled book and what really gets his groove going:

OR you might enjoy one of the poems from Solo being performed by Randy Preston... it's pretty sweet.

Homemade tees:
Blade's father gives him a custom-built Eddie Van Halen Frankenstrat guitar which becomes his most prized possession.  Show your fandom of this book by wearing the t-shirt that pays homage to the instrument:

Because if we're being honest... wearing those striped overalls might be one step too far...






* Not a real person.  BUT Mike Rutherford, Rivers Rutherford, Van Morrison or Jim Morrison surely are real.  And they're musicians.  Just sayin'.