Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
3 out of 5 stars

“In a well-crafted story, everything makes sense.”

Goodreads Description: 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.

I received an ARC of Dragon Hoops from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on March 17th.

I know absolutely nothing about basketball or any sport, really. Like Gene, I have no interest in sports. That didn’t stop him from learning more about basketball and following the school’s basketball team throughout their basketball season. Gene works at the school as well as writes and illustrates graphic novels. Dragon Hoops is essentially about his career and about the school (and school’s basketball team) that he works at.

For being someone that isn’t into sports, it was fun learning a little more about basketball along with Gene. He gives backstories about the characters and the history of basketball too. I couldn’t completely connect with Dragon Hoops since it’s not a subject that I am into, but I did like it and thought it was fun to read. I got really excited when the Dragons would score points and got bummed when they would lose. I liked that Gene ended up realizing new things about himself as he tagged along with the basketball team to all their games and connected with the players through conversation and interviews with them.

Overall, Dragon Hoops was a solid graphic novel about basketball, sportsman ship, and growth. I liked the mix between the history of the sport and what was going on in present day with the new Dragons team as they work their way to the state championships. I thought the illustrations were great as well. I would definitely recommend checking it out, especially if you like basketball. I think I’m going to gift this book to my nephew and see if maybe it’ll interest him as well.

In case you missed it;
Book Haul|| February.
Review|| Girls with Razor Hearts.
Friday Finds #86.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!