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nerfherder86 's review for:
Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
An outstanding graphic novel about basketball and about life's choices, about "taking the first step" to something new or intimidating. Semi-autobiographical (but in the afterword Yang talks about the changes he made to the real-life story for dramatic or visual purposes), this is the true story of the 2015 state-championship boys' basketball team at Bishop O'Dowd Catholic high school in Oakland, CA, where Yang taught math for many years. Gene is looking for a topic for a new graphic novel, and while he's never been an athlete or had much of an interest in watching basketball, he becomes intrigued by all the chatter about this being "THE year" for his school's team, and he decides to talk to the coach about it. He is soon hooked, as he gets to know the star players and a little bit of their backgrounds, and he researches the history of basketball (as well as women's basketball) and puts that in the book too. There are profiles of influential players, such as the first Chinese player in the NBA, the first woman to ever dunk a basketball in a college game, and so forth. I found it quite informative, as well as emotional--he has a knack for drawing you in to the drama between players and teams, and the art is PHENOMENAL. There is suspense in many of the games up to the last point scored, and he shows you the fast-paced nature of the game even with still pictures. It's really quite colorful, too. Great book; lots of diversity in the players, and yet the common thread of so many of them having to take a first step (which he illustrates quite literally) in their lives, be it to go from a public to a private school, or to come to a new country, etc. Highly recommend, not just for sports fans.