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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Anniversary of Basketball/Dragon Road

Did you know that basketball was created this month back in 1891?  James Naismith was a teacher of physical education at the International YMCA Training College at Springfield, MA.  In order to create an indoor sport, that could be played during the winter months, he nailed up peach baskets at opposite ends of the gym and gave students soccer balls to toss into them.  Thus, the game of basketball was born.

Looking for a good book about your favorite winter sport?  Try Dragon Road: Golden Mountain Chronicles, 1939 by Lawrence Yep. 

It's 1939 and Chinese-American best friends Cal and Barney are both trapped by the invisible barriers created by racial prejudice.  With no jobs and no real homes, it's only their wizardry with a basketball that's let them survive this long.  That same skill suddenly flings a door open to fame and fortune when a professional basketball team, the Dragons, invites them to join. Soon they're barnstorming across America and taking on all comers—from local amateurs to other professional teams like the Harlem Globetrotters.

On that long, difficult road, they must battle rowdy teams and their even rougher fans on makeshift courts. Cal, aka Flash, and the team must also overcome terrible weather, crumbling highways, and their own disintegrating car. As the tour starts to fall apart, the tension between Cal and the team's jealous captain comes to a head.  Suddenly Cal must choose between loyalty to his teammates and the pursuit of his own celebrity. Inspired by the pioneering professional Chinese-American basketball team the Hong Wah Kues, Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep re-creates a colorful era of barnstorming basketball and leads readers through the heartache and glory of the dragon road.

 

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