Dragon Hoops

Dragon Hoops 

Bibliography

Yang, Gene Luen. 2020. DRAGON HOOPS. Ill. by Gene Luen Yang. New York, NY: First Second. ISBN 9781626720794

Plot Summary

Bishop O'Dowd High School is home to the Bishop O'Dowd Dragons, a basketball team whose continuous appearances at the State Championship ends in loss every year. But this year is the year. Teacher and author Mr. Yang is stuck on what to write next when he hears of basketball coach, Lou Richie's, hope of making it all the way this year. Mr. Yang decides that his next book will be about this and begin following the team, highlighting their games, as well as the players and their lives and what made them decide to play this sport. Based on true events, Gene Luen Yang writes and illustrates a story of hope, dreams, and what it means to be a part of a team.

Critical Analysis

To many, basketball is just a sport. To some, it is life. For the players of the 2014-2015 Bishop O'Dowd High School basketball team, basketball is what brought them happiness, or friends, or success. It gave them a place to be themselves. It gave them the opportunities of a lifetime. This is what Gene Luen Yang shows in his Printz Award Honor book, Dragons Hoops. 

The book is based on true events how Mr. Yang decided to write about this basketball team and how watching these boys play and getting to know them and their backgrounds made him love the game and what it stood for for these young men. He grows a friendship with their coach, Lou Richie, whose own past with the team is depicted in a chapter in the book. The "character" of Lou Richie is seen as a role model, a mentor, someone to look up to and work hard for. The players and their pasts and what brought them to the school and game are shown in a way that also illustrates the history of basketball itself. One player, Qianjun or Alex, has his own chapter and readers are shown how basketball became popular in his home country of China. These historical moments in the book are engaging and tie into the story really well. They get the reader interested in that point in time. 

While Yang's themes of friendship and how hard work can help you to persevere have been seen before, we now see them through such a real life lens. These young men were real and had lives and struggles and moments of heartbreak and joy. We can feel that emotion in Yang's work, right until the very end. These lessons hit home harder than before, and the success by the basketball team resonates beyond the book's pages. 

Review Excerpts

Michael Printz Award Honor- 2022

Publishers Weekly: "Using a candid narrative and signature illustrations that effectively and dynamically bring the fast-paced games to life, Yang has crafted a triumphant, telescopic graphic memoir that explores the effects of legacy and the power of taking a single first step, no matter the outcome.

Horn Book: "Yang skillfully juggles the stories of multiple players and coaches as well as his own journey from basketball novice to avid fan."

Connections

More by Gene Luen Yang: American Born Chinese (2006)

                                            Level Up (2011)

                                            Secret Coders series (2015-)

Basketball in Young Adult Novels: Hoops by Walter Dean Myers

                                                        Rez Ball by Byron Graves

                                                        The Final Four by Paul Volponi

Activity: Theme Match- Match the themes of the book to different parts of the story.