Posts Tagged 'regret'

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Published October 29, 2021 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Genre: Sports Fiction

Number of Pages: 445

Gene Luen Yang has always been fascinated by comics and as an adult loves to draw his own in addition to being a high school teacher. He never got why so many people liked sports, however. He wasn’t very good at any sports and often got hurt in some way while trying to participate in them. Eventually he gave up on sports altogether. That all changes when he starts hearing about the basketball team at his Catholic High School, called the Dragons, and their wish to become the California State Basketball Champions. Once he starts digging into this story he learns that it has been many decades in the making, which is partly why the school is so revved up for this season. He decides to write a graphic novel explaining not only the school’s history but also documenting what they are hoping will be a monumental season. He even writes about his struggle to properly depict some of the more difficult incidents from the Dragons’ past that have led to this moment. Can the Dragons finally make it all the way to the end?

This graphic novel is unique, compelling, and enthralling whether a reader likes sports or not. It’s easy to see how Gene Luen Yang got caught up in the excitement of a school desperately wanting that state championship, but like many sports stories he discovers there is a lot of history with this team. A lot of people can relate to this story for one reason or another, but in the end it’s easy to want a team like this to succeed. Highly recommended, but especially for sports readers and reluctant readers.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Published November 3, 2011 RAC , Realistic Fiction , Romance 3 Comments
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Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Romance

# of Pages:  349

RAC Book:  Yes

Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena are back ten years after the last installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Now they are all approaching the age of 30 and they have struggled to keep their friendship alive.  Tibby moved to Australia with Bryan, Bridget lives with Eric in San Francisco, Lena lives alone in New York and works as an art professor, and Carmen lives with her horrible fiance in New York where she works as an actress.  Tibby has especially fallen out of touch with her friends, which is why they are all so surprised when she invites them to Greece for a reunion.  When the three girls arrive, Tibby is not there to greet them.  By nightfall they know something is wrong and by morning their worst fears are confirmed.  The way each woman handles this tragedy is to run away from each other, which seems a bit surprising considering how long they have been friends.  Can they ever recover from their loss?  Can they ever find their way in this world without wandering aimlessly forever?

Most of this book centers on Bridget, Lena, and Carmen coping with Tibby’s apparent suicide.  During this time the three women rarely speak to each other and choose to throw themselves into various other activities.  It seems sad they have been a bit lost these last ten years and it took a tragedy to wake them up.  It’s difficult to take characters who became famous in young adult novels and make them realistic adults.  In many ways, these characters were still the same immature girls who traded pants.  The ending was satisfying, but the journey was a bit frustrating as the characters repeatedly made decisions that seemed unrealistic for thirty-year-olds who have been friends since birth.

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