🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Kwame Alexander
Kwame Alexander is young adult fiction and children’s fiction author and poet who made his name advocating for introducing the art of writing and literary works to school going children. He made his debut writing the Newbery Medal award-winning novel The Crossover in 2014. The author was born in New York, but spent much of his childhood and teenage years in Chesapeake, Virginia. It was a childhood full of books as his mother was an educator and his father a book publisher and scholar of quite some renown. He did his premedical studies at Virginia Tech and then studied writing under Nikki Giovanni, the award-winning poet. His earliest exploits in literature was when he produced the 1994 published “The Flow” as an editor.
All Book Series by Kwame Alexander
Swing
Latest in the series · book 3 of 3 · published 2018 Co-authored · Mary Rand Hess
Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band
Series opener · book 1 of 8 · published 2011
Acoustic Rooster's Barnyard Boogie Starring Indigo Blume
Book 5 of 8 · published 2020
How to Sing a Song
Latest in the series · book 8 of 8 · published 2024 Co-authored · Randy Preston
Out of Wonder
Book 11 of 12 · published 2017 Co-authored · Marjory Wentworth,Ekua Holmes,Chris Colderley
Light for the World to See
Latest in the series · book 12 of 12 · published 2020
Becoming Muhammad Ali
Series opener · book 1 of 3 · published 2020 Co-authored · James Patterson
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kwame Alexander?
Kwame Alexander is young adult fiction and children's fiction author and poet who made his name advocating for introducing the art of writing and literary works to school going children. He made his debut writing the Newbery Medal award-winning novel The Crossover in 2014. The author was born in New York, but spent much of his childhood and teenage years in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Which Kwame Alexander series should I start with?
The best place to start is The Crossover series, the earliest of Kwame Alexander's multi-book series: it opens with The Crossover (2014) and runs to 3 books across 2014–2018, ending with Rebound (2018).
How many books has Kwame Alexander written?
Kwame Alexander has 39 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1997 and 2026. 5 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being The Crossover series with 3 books — and 34 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Kwame Alexander's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Kwame Alexander's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Crossover (2014–2018, 3 books) and The Door of No Return (2022–2024, 2 books).
How are Kwame Alexander's books organised into series?
This guide splits Kwame Alexander's 39 books into 2 named series and 34 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The Crossover (3 books, 2014–2018); The Door of No Return (2 books, 2022–2024).