DRAGON ROAD

Yep adds to his ongoing Golden Mountain Chronicles with this absorbing tale of a basketball team that leaves San Francisco’s Chinatown to barnstorm across California and the West in 1939.

Lured by the chance to show off his basketball skills and earn steady money, as well as to break away from his alcoholic father and economically depressed community, Calvin joins a newly organized squad dubbed the Dragons, which sets out in a battered jalopy on a relentless tour of small-town gyms and halls, playing both local teams and such historical legends as the Harlem Globetrotters. Series fans will enjoy this new encounter with Cal and other characters who have made previous appearances in various volumes.

The author also injects plenty of game action—though what comes across most vividly through the Dragons’ ups, downs and eventual return to San Francisco is the pervasive prejudice against minorities that they encounter, the harsh but sometimes exhilarating experiences of life on the road and most especially the central importance of cultural and family ties.