77 pages • 2 hours read
Kwame AlexanderRebound
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 210-232Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 210 Summary: “July 2”
Charlie’s mother arrives a day early. She is surprised at his enthusiasm as he hugs her.
Chapter 211 Summary: “New Sneakers”
Charlie’s mother surprises him with new sneakers. He thanks his mother even though they aren’t Air Jordans, and she talks with him about the family reunion, telling him not to take money from his relatives if they offer it to him. Secretly, he hopes that someone will give him enough money to buy the sneakers he really wants.
Chapter 212 Summary: “The Fourth”
Charlie describes the Fourth of July party, which includes music, food, dancing, and relatives.
Chapter 213 Summary: “Basketball Rule”
Charlie checks in with Roxie, and she explains that champions have to handle both wins and losses and that she is okay.
Chapter 214 Summary: “Let’s Ball”
Charlie asks his mother if he can play basketball with Roxie. She tells him not to stay too long and to be safe, as it is hot outside.
Chapter 215 Summary: “The Plan”
After playing basketball with Roxie for a while, Charlie asks Roxie to lie for him so he can “go do something” (351). Roxie is reluctant, but Charlie reminds her that she said she would owe him if he joined her basketball team. She agrees, and he goes off to meet Skinny in DC.
Chapter 216 Summary: “I get off the train”
The temperature is in the upper 90s as Charlie meets Skinny at the skating rink. Ivan is there, along with some other boys who are drinking out of bottles inside of paper bags.
Chapter 217 Summary: “Waiting in Line”
As they wait to go inside, Charlie asks Skinny if his cousin can still get him some discounted Air Jordans; he has money from his relatives at the party. Ivan and some other boys offer them alcohol, but they refuse.
Chapter 218 Summary: “Fight”
Skinny and Charlie go inside to skate while Ivan and his friends get into a fight. Ivan asks Skinny to hold his bag. Ivan and his “crew” go to chase another group of boys.
Chapter 219 Summary: “Inside”
Skinny and Charlie notice security guards with guns at the skating rink. Charlie and Skinny begin skating as Ivan enters with blood on his shirt and a sneaker in his hand. Someone yells that there is a gun.
Chapter 220 Summary: “C’MON, CHARLIE, RUN!”
Everyone runs to leave the skating rink, and a shot is fired. Charlie grabs Ivan’s bag, but the strap breaks and Charlie trips.
Chapter 221 Summary: “Déjà Vu”
Charlie describes a sound that overwhelms him with grief and fear.
Chapter 222 Summary: “SIRENS”
The sound of the sirens immobilizes Charlie. Skinny returns to help him, and Ivan gestures for Charlie to give him his bag from a distance. Ivan also motions for Charlie to be quiet and then runs away. The police arrive, pointing guns at Charlie and Skinny.
Chapter 223 Summary: “The Crime”
There is marijuana in the backpack, leaving Charlie and Skinny in possession of drugs. The police handcuff them.
Chapter 224 Summary: “Arrested”
Charlie and Skinny are taken to jail. In the back of the police car, Skinny claims he didn’t know Ivan had drugs. Charlie asks why Skinny didn’t run away, and Skinny reminds him that they’re “amigos.”
Chapter 225 Summary: “Locked Up”
Charlie gives the police his grandfather’s phone number, and he thinks about the loss of the joy he had finally found this summer.
Chapter 226 Summary: “Things I Think About While I’m in Jail”
Charlie spends time in a cell thinking about how he will make better choices if he is released.
Chapter 227 Summary: “The Black Panther”
Charlie’s grandfather arrives with Mr. Smith.
Chapter 228 Summary: “Consequence (Part Three)”
Charlie discovers Mr. Smith is a police chief. Percy, who tells Charlie to be quiet whenever he tries to speak, asks Mr. Smith if Charlie should stay in jail for the night to learn his lesson. Mr. Smith reminds him how much it would upset Charlie’s grandmother, and the police release Charlie. Mr. Smith tells him that he expects more out of him.
Chapter 229 Summary: “Freedom”
Percy takes Charlie to the airport to watch planes take off and land and to process the past few hours.
Chapter 230 Summary: “There’s a Hole in my Soul”
Charlie tells his grandfather what happened, and his grandfather tries to teach him what it means to play on a team: The people he chooses as “teammates” will influence the course his life takes, and it is important to “stay in the game” through hardship (374). Percy reveals that even he has struggled to carry on after the loss of Charlie’s father but reiterates that Charlie has to focus on making better choices.
Chapter 231 Summary: “Rebound”
Charlie cries and hugs his grandfather, who uses the language of basketball to help Charlie understand how to lean on others through hard times.
Chapter 232 Summary: “Homecoming”
Charlie returns home scared. His mother hugs him.
Chapters 210-232 Analysis
The arrival of Charlie’s mother highlights both the progress Charlie has made and all that he still needs to learn. Charlie’s desire for a pair of Air Jordans has been a recurring point of tension in their relationship, so the fact that Charlie does not voice his disappointment with the sneakers she gives him highlights his character growth; where he previously lashed out at his mother whenever something frustrated him, he now recognizes that she is trying to please him and avoids upsetting her. Nevertheless, his fixation on the Jordans causes him to ignore her advice about taking money from his relatives. This contributes to the debacle at the skating party, as Charlie is there partly to ask Skinny about buying sneakers from his cousin. That Charlie involves Roxie in his lie by playing on her sense of obligation also reveals a degree of self-absorption.
As the climax approaches, Alexander builds tension using a variety of setting and character details. Charlie’s mother warns him to be careful because of the heat, which causes discomfort for the characters and creates a suffocating, claustrophobic mood. When Charlie meets Skinny, he sees Ivan is “drinking from the bottle in his paper bag” (355); the implication that Ivan is engaging in underage drinking increases the sense of danger. While sweating and waiting in line to enter the roller-skating rink, Charlie and Skinny notice that the security guards are armed, noting how strange that is at a skating rink. Although Rebound contains little explicit societal commentary, the presence of guards carrying guns is a reminder of the police violence that disproportionately affects Black men and boys like Charlie. Although Charlie avoids this fate, the police that corner him and Skinny do draw their weapons, highlighting how easily the encounter could have turned deadly.
Alexander returns to the siren motif in the story’s climax, when the police sirens render Charlie unable to move. The sound establishes a direct link between Charlie’s loss of his father and the situation he now finds himself in, suggesting the role that grief has played in his decision-making. Unlike Charlie’s initial episode with the sirens, when CJ and Skinny supported him and brought him to the safety of the school nurse, Charlie now finds himself alone in a jail cell (though Skinny does show loyalty in returning to Charlie’s side at the cost of his own chance to escape).
With nothing to do but think, Charlie quickly learns from his mistake; even before his grandfather arrives, he has promised himself that he will “go out and save the world […] listen to all the coaches in [his] life […and] love [his] family” (369). The timing of Charlie’s resolution underscores that it is a genuine change of heart rather than simply a reaction to the threat of punishment by his grandparents or mother. As it turns out, Charlie’s grandfather does not punish him at all; though clearly angry and disappointed, he merely picks Charlie up from jail and takes him to the airport. This setting symbolically represents the different paths Charlie can take in life and his accountability for his actions. Percy Bell uses a team metaphor to help Charlie understand this accountability, telling him, “You put the wrong people on your team and you gonna lose every time, whether you meant to or not”—a remark that reinforces The Impact of Role Models in Adolescence. He uses the same basketball metaphor to warn Charlie against “complaining when the coach takes [him] out of the game” (374), further underscoring the importance of accepting the consequences of one’s actions. Percy here serves as a positive role model for Charlie, using accountability and love to support him through his mistakes.
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