Throughout the season, he is fielding calls from DC Comics about taking over writing Superman. So not only is it about basketball, but it's autobiographical as well. Yang inserts himself into the book as narrator. After meeting with his fellow teacher and head coach, he determined he wanted to focus on the Dragons' season even though he cared little about basketball. He was looking for a subject for his next project when he heard people talking about how good the basketball team was at the high school where he teaches. Yang had no interest in basketball or any other sport when he began writing this. It touches of race, religion, bias, and many other topics. Yes, this book is about high school basketball. 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. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. 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. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain.

And the hero always wins.īut Gene doesn’t get sports. Gene understands stories-comic book stories, in particular. In his latest graphic novel, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.

Dragon hoops by gene luen yang