Praise for Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess’s Solo:
“I’ve been a fan of Kwame Alexander for a long time, but this book is special.”
John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down
“A gorgeously lyrical and passionate meditation on family and identity. Solo is Kwame Alexander at his finest.”
Nicola Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything
“From the lyric verse to the driving beat of the storytelling, this book is music, and beautiful music.”
Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of The You I’ve Never Known
“A contemporary hero’s journey, brilliantly told.”
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A rhythmic, impassioned ode to family, identity, and the history of rock and roll.”
Booklist, starred review
“Hand to music lovers, reluctant readers, fans of spoken word poetry, those who appreciate Alexander’s work, or anyone seeking a tale of self-discovery.”
School Library Journal
Other Novels by Kwame Alexander
Rebound
Solo (with Mary Rand Hess)
Booked
The Crossover
He Said, She Said
BLINK
Swing
Copyright © 2018 by KA Productions
Original Art © 2018 by Mary Rand Hess
The art in the book was created using ink and mixed media on paper.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Blink, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
Epub Edition August 2018 9780310761877
Hardcover ISBN 978-0-310-76191-4
Audio ISBN 978-0-310-76192-1
E-book ISBN 978-0-310-76187-7
ITPE ISBN 978-0-310-76193-8
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover direction: Ron Huizinga
Interior design: Denise Froehlich
Printed in the United States of America
18 19 20 21 22 / LSC / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the beautiful ones unborn. And
to their forgotten histories.
Contents
Praise for Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess’s
Other Novels by Kwame Alexander
Prologue
Part 1: Cheesecake Tryouts
I’ve Liked Baseball
Cut
Primer One
I Don’t Understand Jazz
Swing
Discharged
Truth
My Secret
The Dare
Next Week
While I’m Waiting
Surprise
My Funny Valentine
Unforgettable
Insults
We Sit
Stars and Stripes
Batter Up
A Lonesome Ride
Phenomenal
Phone Conversation
Spain
La Quinta
Tattoo
Inked
Dairy Queen
Conversation
This Is What I Know About Sam
This Is What Floyd Knows About Sam
The Secret Formula
Unlock Your heart
Guru Confusion
A Sign
The Meaning
Family Meeting
Sit Down, Noah
The Walk of Death
Twins
Two-of-a-Kind
The Jalopy
Three-Way Conversation
First Attempt
Woohoo Woman Podcast #1: Who’s at the Controls?
For Your Safety—Please Read All Warning and Operating Signs Before Batting
Conversation on the Way to the Mall
The mall
Cruel Comparison
Cruz
Out With the Old
Conversation
Gift Giving 101
The Keepall
The Loan
I Walk Outside
After Dessert
Conversation With Walt
Share
First Draft
Woohoo Woman Podcast #3: Training Wheels
What Matters
Inspection
Lucky Day?
Text to Walt
Tonight, After Reading the Love Letters
Bon Voyage
Text From Walt
Star Spangled
He Reads
Part 2: I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry Too Good to Be True
What Are You Doing Here?
The Master and the Pupil
We Kick Off
Ebony and Ivory
Texts With Granny
Inspiration
Friday Morning
Practicing
A Clue?
Patriot
The Line
Primer Two
Park of Love
Wrong!
After the Lecture on Jazz
A Big Hiccup
Heart Attack
Written
Truth
I Walk
When Your Best Friend Is Trying to Ruin Your Life
Shut the Freak Up
Stuck
My Heart
Finally
When Walt Strolls
Apology
Noise
I Slam My Door
The Price of Betrayal
Starbucks
On Tuesday
Apology Accepted
The Baddest Girl on Earth
So, We Go Back
Conversation
Birth of the Cool
An Hour Later
The Only Thing That Can Shut Walt Up
Out of His Mind
When We Get Home
You Hear Cool, Noah?
Part 3: Second Balcony Jump Guess Who?
Conversation
Close, but No Cigar
Primer Three
I Hear
Starbucks Fix No. 1,299
Never Mix the Wrong Drinks and the Wrong Company
Awkward Conversation With Cruz
Black Lives Matter!
Squirrels and Lovers
Disgusting
Conversation With Walt
Searching
MIA
Text to Sam
Text From Sam
What Happened Was
I Throw My Clothes on
Mayhem
Chance Encounter
Phantom
Happiness
Trap
Love Is the Reader
X-Man
No Dice
A Secret
King of Heartbreaks
Text to Swing
Text From Swing
Ceiling Lights
The Metaphors
Out of Two Hundred Balls
Spur of the Moment
Thrifting and Riffing
When I Get Home
What Else Did She Say?
We Listen
Primer Four
Speechless
All Night Long
What Are You Doing Here?
Art Is
Speechless Again
Primer Five
Her Name Is Dream
Sam at the Window
Opportunity
At Lunch
Dear Love
Dear Love
All the Things I Want to Say
All the Things I Text
Texts With Sam
The Party
10:15 PM
10:29 PM
Love Is Love Is Love
Blur
10:45 PM
The Masquerade Is Off
The Myth
Nerves
Verve
Writing the Story
Reckoning
The Wave Is Coming
Part 4: Love for Sale Quiet
Bewildered
We Interrupt This Broadcast
It’s a Bird,
He Misses
The Sirens
Over
Knock, Knock
Nightmare
Busted
They Pick Cruz Up, Unlock His Cuffs, Shove Him Toward Us
Men in Blue
They Leave Us All With a Warning
Tomorrow?
I Want to Crawl Back
Intruder
Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2
Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2: Scherzo
Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2: Lullaby
Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2: Serenade
Text to Sam
1:31 AM
The Right Time
We Lie Across the Bed
Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars
2:06 AM
Moon River
Conversation
On Monday
When I Get to School
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Prelude to a Kiss
The Week With Sam
Olive Garden
Give-and-Take
Are You Kidding Me?
In Full Swing
I Didn’t Get a Call
Boundaries
The Anatomy of a Kiss
Caught in a Love Haze
When I Get Home
The Blues
No Fries, Just More . . . Floyd
Where Floyd Tells Walt What to Do and It Makes No Sense Whatsoever
Special Something
Phone Conversation
The Big Game
Realization
Caught in the Truth
The Last Inning
Debut
The Ride From Antarctica
Forlorn
Texts With Granny
Woohoo Woman
Text From Sam
Dear Sam
Text to Walt
Text From Walt
Something Is Coming
Part 5: Where Are You? Conversation With Walt
Texts to Sam
On the Drive
When the Traffic Clears
How Long Has This Been Going on?
Escape
Another Reckoning
End
Early
Consequence
Kind of Blue
Part 6: Three O‘clock in the Morning Text From Walt
Two Strikes
Walt at Bat
Unfortunately
Independence Day
Texts With Walt
Future Plans
At the Stoplight
Conversation With Sam
It’s Definitely Over
All the Things You Are, Divya: A Playlist by Swing
Slowly Coming Alive
What Being Alone Looks Like
Best Thing I Never Had
Why Is My Alarm
Stranded
I Leave
Let’s Face the Music and Dance
The Flag Bearer
Mo!
Haunting
Out of Nowhere
Boom!
War Zone
Witness
Interrogation
Says Me
After
Critical Care
Autumn Leaves
I, Too?
Epilogue
There’s This Dream
Strings
Chapel
Texts From Chapel
Leaving in Ten Minutes
The Show
The After-Party
Hollywood Report
Who Am I?
Are You Sure They Aren’t Coming Home?
Those Eyes Will Be the Death of Me
Two Years Ago
Prologue
We were halfway through
junior year.
Rounding the bases.
About to score.
Walt was still pretending
like he wasn’t weird,
and fronting
cool.
Sam was busy being cool, and fine,
while her boyfriend, Cruz,
was busy hitting
home runs
and being president
of the I’m-so-cool-even-my-temper-is-lukewarm club.
And I was in the dugout.
Mostly happy
just watching,
trying to get up the nerve
to get in the game.
Things were pretty much normal:
baseball was still king,
but people were also talking about
the American flags
randomly popping up
around town—on car windows at malls,
in graveyards, graffitied
on freeway exit signs.
Everywhere.
Anywhere.
We were best friends
rounding the bases,
about to score.
Everything was copacetic, Walt liked to say.
Until it wasn’t.
Part 1
Cheesecake
Tryouts
We
go
to
check
the
list
and
for
the
third
year
in
row
we
aren’t
on
it.
I’ve liked baseball
since I was three,
when Dad handed me
a glove
that swallowed
my arm.
But Walt has loved it.
His trading cards
fill five albums:
Hank Aaron,
Roberto Clemente,
Bryce Harper,
Carlos Correa,
Willie Mays.
He gave away
all his Sammy Sosas.
We’ve been
to see
the Yankees
at least once
a year.
We love
the hot dogs,
the spin
of a curveball,
the crack
of a well-hit ball.
In our minds
we could hit
anything,
run the bases
like gazelles,
slide into home
safe.
But the truth is
we suck.
Our baseball dream
is a nightmare.
It haunts me.
If only Walt
could catch on
to the signs
the universe
is pitching us,
we could both
move on
from this horror.
Cut
Yo, why are you smiling? This sucks.
Noah, you ever heard of the saying, fourth time’s a charm?
It’s third time’s a charm.
If you’d rather focus on the No, that’s on you. I choose Yes.
YES?! What are you even talking about? We didn’t make
the team. Again. That’s a definitive NO if I’ve ever seen
one.
A setbac
k is a setup waiting for a comeback.
Well, you can come back by yourself. I’m done, Walt.
Noah, this is not the time to give up on chasing cool.
I’m not giving up on cool. I’m giving up on baseball. And
you should too. We’ll find cool another way.
Burger King.
Huh?
Like Burger King, we can have it our way. Don’t give up on
our dreams.
Your dreams.
I’m not the one who studied up on all the greats in
baseball history, and I’m not the one who made his best
friend watch the World Series in silence so he could hear
the sound of every pitch, hit, and catch. And, I’m not the
one who used to want to play catch every day.
Used to.
I’ll tell you this, Noah. I WILL make the varsity baseball
team senior year. Bet on that. I’ll practice harder than
before. Work out harder. Get ripped. Give the whole of my
heart and soul to the glove and the ball. Become one with
the bat. In fact, from now on, Walt’s no longer my name.
From now on, just call me Swing.
I’m not calling you that.
Well, it’s my name. I’m Benny Goodman, yo!
Who’s Benny Goodman?
WHO’S BENNY GOODMAN? Are. You. Kidding. Me.
Primer One
Listen to this
clarinet swing,
he says,
playing a song
on his phone.
That’s Benny Goodman.
The King of Swing,
the Sultan of Smooth,
the Rambo of Rhythm
and Romance.
Really? Rambo?
Jazz is jungle
and jam, yo!
Plum sweetness
from the first note
to the last,
broken time
put together again.
Benny Goodman is the fixer, dude.
He’s sway and swoon,
groove and drive,
melody in your steps,
“Bumble Bee Stomp,”
butter when you talk,
a chance to dance
offbeat,
an in-the-pocket wish
to come true.
Blue wings
that fly you
to the moon
and back.
Oh, well that explains it completely, I say, shaking my
head. How’d he die? I ask, knowing he’s gonna tell me
anyway.
June 13, 1986.
Benny was taking a nap,
snoozing and doozin’,
then BAM!