Hoops

Hoops

• Genre: Fiction; young adult sports/realistic
• Originally Published: 1981
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 740L; grades 7-9
• Structure/Length: 9 chapters; approx. 224 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Seventeen-year-old Lonnie Jackson has a reputation for athletic prowess on the basketball court and dreams of major success. His stardom and future are on the line, though, when his coach Cal receives a tempting offer to throw the city’s Tournament of Champions by benching Lonnie.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Profanity; protagonist drinks and smokes; sexual content; physical assault; murder; gang activity; firearms

Walter Dean Myers, Author

• Bio: 1937-2014; born in in West Virginia; raised in Harlem; struggled in school but enjoyed reading and writing; joined the army after quitting high school; began writing inspired by his own experiences; writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young readers; won five Coretta Scott King Awards and two Newbery Honors; first writer to be awarded the Michael L. Printz Award (for Monster, 1999); received the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award (1994), a lifetime achievement honor for YA literature; served as the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature; prolific writer of over 110 works
• Other Works: The Outside Shot (1984); Motown and Didi (1984); Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom (1997); Harlem Summer (2007)
• Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults (1981); Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee (1981)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Role of Father Figures for Young Men
• Black Identity and Performativity for White Audiences
• Vulnerability and Masculinity

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical and cultural context regarding Lonnie’s difficulty in overcoming his socioeconomic disadvantages.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of The Role of Father Figures for Young Men, Black Identity and Performativity for White Audiences, and Vulnerability and Masculinity.
• Research and design visual media to convey connections between Lonnie’s story and that of professional basketball players based on text details.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Lonnie’s identity, the development of teamwork, and other topics.