Details

Length: 443
Story Build: quick through verse
Character development: solid with personality 
Age Recommendation: 7th grade (parent knowledge) and up
Reasoning: brief, brief language; brief and vague conversations around sexual content, issues with race and prejudice, brief police violence 

Summary and Review

I couldn’t quite figure out why the novel was named Swing for the longest time. Swing is the self-bestowed nickname of Walt who is best friends with our narrator, Noah. Swing is black. Noah is white. I didn’t realize this either until hints were made in the middle and towards the end.  

The novel is written in verse, which makes it a quick read as Kwame Alexander is a brilliant poet and carries his plot well with his lyrical style. The story surrounds a couple of different plot points: 

• Noah and Walt have never made the baseball team, and as is his goal for his senior year, Walt is determined to make it. 
• Noah has a long established crush on their good friend, Sam, and is working up the courage to share this with her. 
• Noah finds love letters from the 1960s that were written between a bi-racial couple that inspire him to create art pieces to capture Sam’s heart. 
• Someone in the community is placing flags in unexpected places, which makes the neighborhood tense with questions of what it all means. 

While this may seem confusing, the story really centers around Noah’s fight for love–specifically with Sam. This might make you wonder why Swing, the nickname of Walt, is the title. I had that same feeling. However, it is Swing who is the speaker of truth in this novel; whether it’s about love, determination, perseverance, or equality, Swing/ Walt has genuine knowledge to share with his friends and the readers of this book. Noah is often brushing him aside, saying he’s too over the top or needs to speak with less flourish, but Swing/ Walt’s comments were often ones that made me think. 

When I think back on this book, Swing is the perfect title. It fits with the baseball theme, which is very connected to Walt. He also is the character that haunts you long after you turned the last page. His words will carry weight, and you will find yourself wishing he really existed. 

Alexander and Hess, again, deliver a novel that raises important questions such as, what if one lived a “hug life” instead of a “thug life”? The authors also truly established a world with likeable and profound characters that will stay with you. 

Celebrations

I really want to celebrate the character of Swing. He was THE character to root for and one that really stuck with me. Readers will enjoy his tenacity and determination and wordiness. One of his many quirks is to remember famous people and how they died. He spouts out these facts at the most random moments, but it’s hilarious and heartwarming. Swing’s message about “hug life” is also one to be remembered, and while cliche in its saying, it is a dynamite theme that really encapsulates the novel as a whole.

Hesitations

I kind of wish the authors had spent less time on Noah’s desire for a romantic relationship with Sam. It felt disjointed with what the authors left us with at the conclusion of the novel. I actually think that it wasn’t necessary, and the book should have focused on Noah and Swing’s friendship even more than it did.