Hoops
by Matt Tavares; illus. by the author
Middle School    Candlewick    224 pp.
3/23    9781536201369    $22.99

Tavares’s first graphic novel is based on the true story of Judi Warren and the 1976 Warsaw (Indiana) High School girls’ basketball team—its rise from nonexistence before Title IX, to filling the bleachers, to winning the state championship. The book finds its main character in Judi Wilson, an athletically gifted high school senior reluctantly funneled into cheerleading, whose ­greatest dream comes true when the Lady Bears basketball team is formed. The girls battle for everything: practice space, uniforms, transportation, spectators. ­Creativity, ­dedication, and passion for their sport drive them through the systemic barriers that surround them in order to find success. This is a timely exploration of the pre–Title IX United States; and a cinematic, well-paced, feel-good sports story, with a couple of solid subplots to give the main characters depth. Artistically, Tavares, known for such photorealistic picture books as Henry Aaron’s Dream (rev. 3/10) and Growing Up Pedro (rev. 1/15), pares back his style to be very readable (if occasionally a bit static) and avoid colliding with the text. The classic championship-game climax is rousing, while the appended author’s note brings more nuance to the ongoing fight against sexism and discrimination and tells more about the history-making Warsaw High School team, Judi Warren, and Title IX.

From the March/April 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.