Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang is one of my favorite graphic novelists. His new book Dragon Hoops is a memoir about his 17 years as a teacher at the Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, CA.  The book focuses on his interactions with the school's basketball team during his last year as a teacher.

The author begins with his story as a youth.  Being unathletic he hated sports and focused on academics in school.  After he learns that his first graphic novel will be published, Yang tries to find something interesting to write for his next book.  He decides to have a talk with O'Dowd's coach Lou Richie. The men's varsity basketball team, the Dragons, is headed to the state championships.  Yang decides to follow the team all season, interviewing the athletes, the coach and former coach who had to resign due to a sexual abuse allegation.  This book is the result.

I am not a sports fan but because Yang wrote this book I was excited to buy it.  I knew he would make it interesting and he did.  The book is more than a memoir as Yang gives mini-bios of the athletes on the team as well as the history of the game.  He even has a section on women's basketball. He also delves into the race issue is basketball from all perspectives: middle school, high school and college.  I learned a lot about the game while being entertained with great writing and graphics.  With an impressive 434 color pages,  the artwork was drawn by Yang but colored by Rianne Meyers.

I loved Dragon Hoops and highly recommend it to young adult readers as well as adults.  5 out of 5 stars!