Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Dragon Hoops turns a high-school basketball championship season into a close-up look at life’s changes and choices.

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang. First Second, 2020, 445 pages.

Reading Level: Teen, ages 12-15

Recommended for: ages 12-up

“I’ve hated sports ever since I was a kid. Especially basketball.” Young Gene Yang was interested in comics and superheroes. An adult, he even fulfilled his dream of publishing an award-winning graphic novel (American-Born Chinese), while teaching computer science at Bishop O’Dowd Catholic High School in Oakland. Now, with more highly- praised books to his credit, can he keep up with two careers and a growing family? And if so, what’s the next graphic novel going to be about?

This school year (2014-15), Mr. Yang is hearing more and more about the basketball team, the O’Dowd Dragons. They’re definitely going to State and might actually win the championship (after many, many previous disappointments). Is that a story? To find out, Mr. Hang crosses the driveway to the gym, where he almost never goes, for a conversation with head coach Lou Richie. After an hour, he has a story: the players, the personalities, and the game itself. From that moment, he’s following the team, interviewing players, and tapping notes and snapping pictures on his phone. The result is this chunk of a graphic novel.

The main storyline follows the Dragons all the way through their championship season (spoiler alert: they win!), but takes many detours. Among them are the origin of basketball, its global influence, great players, the women’s game, and Dragon backstories. Most of the O’Dowd team come from at least a nominally Christian background (pre-game prayers included), although one practices Sikhism and goes into interesting detail about his beliefs. For most of the players, their guiding faith is b-ball, and they all work hard to overcome various obstacles in the way to becoming the best they can be. Not surprisingly, Mr. Yang becomes a fan. He also shares his own struggles in telling the story (truly but not entirely factually), breaks the fourth wall on occasion, and makes a big decision about his future.

So it’s not just about basketball, but about the choices we make and the people, places, and things that influence us. Sports fans will enjoy the action but also learn something about character and storytelling; story fans will enjoy the development but also learn something about basketball. Everyone wins!

Overall Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Considerations:

• Midway into the story the author agonizes over what to include and what to leave out—particularly a former coach and the controversy surrounded him. The controversy has to do with a sexual abuse charge that was never proved and never resolved. Readers can make up their own minds about whether this character should have been included—could be a good discussion question.
• Language caution: there are a few “hells” and one “damn.” Also, one of the assistant coaches drops plenty of f-bombs, and Coach Richie rips off a few himself under stress—all indicated by asterisks.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• We were impressed by Yang’s award-winning back-to-back graphic novels, Boxer/Saints.
• For a grittier look at basketball and the pro sports hustle, see our reviews of Games of Deception and Foul Trouble (both for teens).
• For the sheer joy of the game, check out The Crossover and Power Forward.

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