Hoops by Matt Tavares – Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Hoops

Matt Tavares, Author/Illustrator

Candlewick Press, Graphic novel, 2023

Pages: 224

Lupine Award Winner

Suitable for ages: 8-12

Themes: Girls, Basketball, Equality Perseverance, Community

Book Jacket Synopsis:

It’s 1976 and on Friday nights in Wilkins, Indiana, it seems like everyone in town shows up to cheer on the boys’ baskettball team. Cars fill the parking lot and fans pack the gymnasium for every home game.

Most people don’t know it, but Wilkins actually has more than one basketball team. An what the newly formed girls’ team lacks in resources they more than make up with grit and ball skill.

But teammates, Judi, Cindy and Lisa aren’t satisfied with being treate as an afterthought to the boys. They want equal access to the gym for practices and games, as well as uniforms, transportation to away games and everything else the boys get.

What will it take for the girls’ team to be recognized by their community — winning games, packing arenas, bringing home a state championship?

Why I love Hoops:

Based on the real-life story about an Indiana girl’s basketball team in the 1970s, Matt Tavares creatively captures the hearts and souls of these very tenacious girls who refuse to give up as they deal with the inequality in girls’ sports. Instead, they strengthen their resolve and  shoot for the stars.  This is an action-packed  story about girl power! Thank you Matt Tavares!

The three main characters, Judi, Lisa and Cindy, have major obstacles to overcome when they join the team. They can’t practice at the gym, because the boys teams use the gym. They don’t have uniforms, so  they take white T-shirts and use black electrical tape to create their numbers. They don’t have transportation to away-games. They even face skepticism from the cheerleaders who don’t understand why they want to play ball. They are creative and clever. And, did I mention — talented.  They train hard, study the sport.  watch the boys’ practices and develop clever strategies that fit their own skills. 

I think Tavares’ debut graphic novel is the perfect medium to tell this story and will be  loved by many girls. The lively and colorful illustrations vary from a full page to smaller frames, which will keep readers turning pages. I love how Tavares sneaks in illustrations of families listening to the games on the radio while their daughters are pretending they are shooting baskets.  This fast-paced novel will keep girls engaged.  I guanantee that when they finish, they will read the novel again.

Personal note: This book is intriguing to me because I graduated from high school in 1969.  I think of my mother and her friends and the few options they had to pursue their dreams. But it was an exciting time, because change was in the air and Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” was OUR marching song.  And Barbara Walters and Gloria Steinem were my role models. I graduated from college in 1973 and had many doors open for me in my early years as a newspaper journalist. But, this book is definitely a great discussion book for grandmothers, daughters and grandchildren.  It will help young girls understand how far we’ve come and how much there is still to do.

Make sure you read the Author’s Note about why he chose to tell this story in a graphic novel instead of a nonfiction book. 

Matt Tavares is the author-illustrator of the New York Times best-selling picture book, Dasher, as well as Red and Lulu and several sports biographies, including Becoming Babe Ruth and Growing up Pedro. He is also the illustrator of Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by Jeff Gottesfeid, The Gibergergread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup, ‘Twas. The Night Before Christmas, and Over the River and Through the Wood, among many other picture books. Matt Tavares lives in Maine.

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*Review copy provided by the Candlewick in exchange for a review.