No one can step on me.
But then we get stepped on.
We trip. We fall. We break bones. We lose confidence. We doubt ourselves.
Or
We get up. We step forward. We take chances. We step with integrity. We step towards others who are struggling. We step in to help them.
As I read Gene Luen Yang's Dragon Hoops: From Small Steps to Great Leaps (Humble Comics, 2020, Roaring Book Press) yesterday, I couldn't help but take a picture of every time a coach, an athlete, or even a writer, himself, took a step forward to change the world forever.
Like everyone (perhaps an exaggeration, but in my head it is everyone), I have not known what to do without a month of hoops. Similar to Gene Luen Yang, I self-identify as a teacher, a thinker, a book nerd, and perhaps an artist; basketball, however, is not in my skill set (as Abu and Lossine continue to tell everyone whenever I'm invited to play the game). I played baseball while young, coached volleyball while old, and learned that running is an isolated sport I can get into. It's independent and at my own pace. I'm slow and clunky, but I can do it.
Yet, unlike Gene Luen Yang's Dragon Hoops, in which he debuts another thought-provoking graphic novel similar to his New York Times Bestselling American Born Chinese, my love for basketball came early. I grew up in Syracuse and had an aunt who worked for Denny Crum in Louisville. Hoop empires were my childhood. Although I always sucked at the game (I can't do two things at once - I fail every time), I've been a fan for my entire life. The appreciation for the sport, too, crystalized through watching my cousin build Hoops4Hope - an international nonprofit supporting youth through basketball. It also came from my own teaching, especially in Kentucky (that fanatical hoops-loving state).
I know young people LOVE basketball and they love reading stories that are fast moving and help them to bounce critical ideas within their brains. I said this to Kwame Alexander while reading The Crossover before it won the Newbery prize. It's also why I discovered Chris Crutcher, a young adult author who was one of the first to write sports stories for kids. There are not enough books like this in our schools. Kids read them. They learn from them. They connect. They matter.
Ah, but in Dragon Hoops, Gene Luen Yang is doing something extra-spectacular through the use of his historical lens (which educates), an emotional lens (which connects), an athletic lens (which has you at the games and on the edge of your seat), his political lens (that celebrates the diversity of the sport and the pioneers that made a difference), and his critical lens (which explores stories that are never easy to talk about)(this, by the way, was delicately gripping and handled with exquisite grace).
Dragon Hoops was one of those books where I wished I had the author on speed dial so I could process my thinking with him as I experienced the story (sort of like I did with Jerry Craft when reading New Kid last summer)(truth, we talked for hours after I finished).
Step.
Comfort zones.
Step.
Restraints.
Step.
The 'isms.
Step.
Dragon Hoops explores why basketball is a metaphor for the United States and the world. It is the story of the O'Dowd Dragons basketball program, its ups and downs, and its similarities to the game of life.
We, too, step-forward, step-up, step-aside, or step-down. Destiny is with every step we take.
"Who can blame them for wanting to keep their Clark Kent to themselves?" asks Gene Luen Yang towards the end of the graphic novel. It may be one of the greatest questions ever asked in a young adult text.
And now I want to talk to Gene Luen Yang, and to celebrate his book for all the potential I see it having in classrooms around the world. I want to share the brilliance with my National Writing Project family.
Step.
I hope to make this happen...a book tour online to replace the book tour that was cancelled.
Swish.
No comments:
Post a Comment