Dragon Hoops
ISBN10: 1626720797
ISBN13: 9781626720794
Hardcover
448 Pages
$29.99
CA$39.99
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Honor for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
Winner of an Eisner Award
A YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers Book List
An ALSC Notable Children's Book
Selected as a YALSA Great Graphic Novel
Nominated for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction
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.
Reviews
Praise for Dragon Hoops
"Full of insight about race and ethnicity, this graphic novel intercuts the thrilling wins and crushing defeats of one high school team with basketball’s own turbulent history."—The New York Times
"Dragon Hoops winningly chronicles the postseason hopes of the basketball team at the Oakland high school where [Gene Luen Yang] taught for 17 years."—The Washington Post
"While [Dragon Hoops] traverses and weaves together different story lines throughout the season—Yang’s own life; the lives of players on the team; the various contexts and trajectories of basketball’s development as a sport—the call to courage spills into every narrative."—The San Francisco Chronicle
"At more than 400 full-color pages, Dragon Hoops is an impressive feat of illustrated journalism. Above all else, Yang considers himself a storyteller, and Dragon Hoops affords him the opportunity to devise a narrative that is both personal in its approach and universal in its presentation."—Oakland Magazine
"Self-confessed nerd Yang would be the first to say it was unlikely that he’d do a graphic novel about sports, but his latest YA opus might be the best comic ever done on the subject, as he follows the fortunes of his high school basketball team in their quest for a state championship."—Forbes
"Yang’s cartooning skills have never been sharper . . . Dragon Hoops has a long life ahead of it in libraries and classrooms, bridging comics and sports in a story that offers plenty of opportunities for meaningful discussion."—The AV Club
"On-court action is impeccably paced in swift cuts . . . expect a warm reception from both the sports fiction crowd and open-minded nerds willing to explore what all the seasonal fuss is all about."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
"[Dragon Hoops] is a perfect entryway into this form [single-season reportage] for teen readers."—Horn Book (starred review)
"The full-color illustrations are varied in layout, effectively conveying intense emotion and heart-stopping action on the court . . . A winner."—Kirkus Reviews
"Yang is an extraordinary cartoonist . . . through recurring visual motifs that connect a champion basketball player to a self-questioning artist to a Russian immigrant with a new idea, he illuminates the risks that every one of us must take and has, once again, produced a work of resounding humanity."—Booklist (starred review)
"Another standout showing from Yang, this title will have even sports haters on their feet cheering."—School Library Journal (starred review)
"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."—Publisher's Weekly
Reviews from Goodreads
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Dragon Hoops Book Trailer
The result of nearly five years in the making, in his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.
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