Rating: Very Good
HarperCollins, 2008, $17.89
ISBN: 9780060275211
Age/Grade level: Grades 5-9
Age/Grade level: Grades 5-9
Summary: In San Francisco, Chinatown, 1938, Cal just graduated from high school. Like millions of Americans, he couldn't find employment anywhere in the Great Depression. This adds to the frustration of everyday life. But he's not ready to give in, let alone allow sterotypical ridicule and racial insults to get to him.
Failing at job hunting but skillful on the basketball court, Cal and Barney plot to con people by playing basketball with them in different neighborhoods. With some bucks in their pockets, they are tempted to take more risks and venture into menacing areas until one day, they find themselves involved in a faceoff with a mob at Butchertown. Fortunately, they are rescued by two strangers who offer them a job, joining a professional basketball team, the Dragons, to tour the whole country. The promise was for steady income. The drawback was to leave Chinatown, where they were born and grew up.
Having to face challenges on the basketball courts as well as the non-stop traveling, could Cal persevere and find success?
Inspired by actual events, this is a wonderful historical teen fiction about Chinese Americans, their experience, their families, and their perspectives. Yep, a skillful storyteller, pictured convincing character like Cal, aka Flash. From a first person aspect, readers get to have a glimpse of the racial barriers directed at immigrant families historically. It's an intriguing story for sports fans.
Reviewer: Zhen (Tracy) Li, Orange County Public Library/Laguna Niguel
