Trigger warnings: Racism and references to sexual abuse with a minor
Synopsis: Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.
But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity 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. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.
Review: I love Gene Luen Yang's books, but I wasn't sure how I would feel about Dragon Hoops. This book chronicle's Gene's time working as a teacher, and he starts to research the school's basketball team. We learn about Gene's past as he grew up, and we also learn about various players on the basketball team, as well as former coaches. Gene takes the time to introduce us to players, and sharing a bit of basketball history as it corresponds with the players. We learn about how basketball changed as African-American players started to get introduced. We also see how the game evolves when it is introduced to China, and when women start to play. I'm not a fan of sports, but it was still nice to see how basketball has changed, and what Gene gets to experience with these kids.
There is a darker undertone that Gene references a few times in the story. We hear about some problems with a former coach being accused of molesting a minor, but we are left wondering what happened through much of the book. I liked seeing Gene struggle with including this person in the story, but I think the story would have felt incomplete if this had just been dropped. I liked seeing how invested Gene got into basketball while he was researching the team. We also see him struggle with balancing his life as a teacher, a dad, and a writer. Dragon Hoops made me appreciate Gene's work on a more personal level.
Another great graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang
4 howls
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