Book Review: Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Much like Tommy Orange’s novel There There, I connected on multiple levels with Gene Luen Yang’s 2020 graphic novel Dragon Hoops. It was an enjoyable and meaningful read, a book I believe that my students will also enjoy.

Similar to There There, Dragon Hoops is set in Oakland, where I currently live, so there’s one connection.

Like Yang was back in 2014, I am a high school teacher in the East Bay, so there is connection number two.

Last school year, I started teaching a graphic novels literature course at Saint Joseph Notre Dame in Alameda, and we read Yang’s dual novels on the Boxer Rebellion, Boxers and Saints, which is briefly referenced in Dragon Hoops, so there is another connection. SJND, like O’Dowd in Dragon Hoops, also has a storied basketball history with some legendary coaches and is the alma mater of Jason Kidd, who is featured in Dragon Hoops on page 64 with other Oakland basketball icons like Bill Russell, Gary Payton, and Damian Lillard (who attended SJND for one year). Another random connection is that Bill Russell, featured briefly in the book, attended the Lakota Nation Invitational basketball tournament in South Dakota where I was assisting as a basketball coach.

Speaking of which, unlike Yang, I have always been interested in basketball. In fact, I coached six years at Red…