Dragon Hoops
by
Gene Luen Yang
illustrated by
Gene Luen Yang
Edition
Hardcover edition
Publisher
Macmillan
Imprint
First Second
ISBN
9781626720794
Awards and Honors
2020 Harvey Award Book of the Year
2021 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book
Publisher's Weekly Best Young Adult Books of 2020
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
Sexual Content: Contact Between Adult and Minor
In his latest graphic novel, Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches. Gene doesn’t get sports. But at Bishop O'Dowd High School, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity basketball team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’ lives, but his own life as well.
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
Sexual Content: Contact Between Adult and Minor
Details
Format
Page Count
448
Trim Size
8 1/2" x 6"
Dewey
796.323092
AR
3.9: points 3
Lexile
HL550L
Genre
Nonfic
Scholastic Reading Counts
0
JLG Release
Jul 2020
Book Genres
Graphic Novels, Autobiography/Biography
Topics
Sports. Basketball. Boys and men. High schools. Basketball teams. Teachers. Tournaments. Courage. Artistic choices. Storytelling. Oakland, California.
Standard MARC Records
Download Standard MARC Records
Cover Art
Download Cover Art
Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
The Horn Book Magazine*
Praise & Reviews
Horn Book
"I'm just not a sports kind of guy," begins Yang in this comics-format offering that brilliantly combines journalism, memoir, and sports history. Yang, who taught math at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California, during the events of the book, provides readers with an inside look at the school's elite basketball team's season as they attempted to win the California State Championship in 2015. Weaving the details of that team's efforts with a primer on the history of basketball, Yang skillfully juggles the stories of multiple players and coaches as well as his own journey from basketball novice to avid fan. In the appended notes, Yang explains his art and narrative choices chapter-by-chapter with page and panel notations, from the sneakers and the hairstyles of the individual players to times when certain conversations happened differently than depicted. While the action on the court is absolutely transfixing (with page layouts often using trapezoid-shaped panels whose diagonal lines amp up the dynamism), the story shines just as brightly off the court when Yang's focus shifts to his owndilemmas and profound insights regarding art and storytelling. Single-season reportage is a popular subgenre of sports writing in the adult publishing world (try In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle for a basketball classic), and here is a perfect entryway into this form for teen readers. A bibliography is also appended.
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up-A year after publishing his well-received Boxers and Saints, graphic novelist and math teacher Yang was beset by writer's block. But his curiosity was piqued by the Dragons, his school's men's varsity basketball team. Over the years, they had come close to winning a state championship, and 2015, the rumor mill whispered, was their year. Though a self-proclaimed nerd, Yang overcame his aversion to sports and decided to follow alumnus Coach Lou and a diverse squad of young men on their quest for the ultimate accolade. As the author juggled raising a family, teaching, and writing, the Dragons struggled to take home the championship-an effort generations in the making. The frenetic action of basketball provides ideal fodder for graphic storytelling, and Yang's visual trademarks-blade-sharp linework and squeaky-clean paneling-are in full force. His discourse on transforming human beings into cartoons that aren't caricatures is especially delightful. The narrative combines the blood-sweat-and-tears drama of a sports story with elements of gonzo journalism, narrative nonfiction, and action comics, juxtaposing play-by-play accounts of games with explorations of players' lives and the broader history of the sport. As Yang taps into subjects as varied as assimilation and discrimination in America, internecine violence in India, and China's century-long quest for athletic recognition, readers learn how this low-cost, indoor game leveled racial, gender, and international boundaries to attain global prominence. VERDICT Another standout showing from Yang, this title will have even sports haters on their feet cheering.-Steven Thompson, Bound Brook Memorial Public Library, NJ
Grades 9 & Up
Graphic Novels High Plus
For Grades 9 & Up
Book-length narratives presented in comic book style, graphic novels foster both visual and verbal comprehension skills while exposing readers to interesting dialogue and satire, as well as affirming diversity.
These unique books, some of them only published in softcover, are ideal for attracting reluctant readers and introducing them to literature they might not encounter otherwise. You may find that the 12 books in this category will turn your reluctant readers into eager readers.
14 books per Year
$302.40 per Year
Interests
Diversity,Fiction,High Interest/Reluctant Reader,Nonfiction,Struggling Readers,Novels
Grades 9 & Up
Graphic Novels High Plus
14 books per Year
$302.40 per Year
