The Hoop Dream: A Basketball Story

By Tony Chen

All Alex has ever wanted is a quiet life. But between losing his mother, teachers that just can't speak kindly, and classes that never teach him, he finds it hard to achieve his dreams.

Alex then discovers basketball, a window into a better life, the key to the locked door.

However, tragedies keep him back from becoming who he really

• Language: English
• Publisher: Society of Young Inklings, Inc
• Release date: Nov 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781956380415

Book preview

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The Hoop Dream

A Basketball Story

Tony Chen

For the light inside all of us

Contents

I: Beginnings 5

II: Life 26

III: The Court 46

IV: Tornado 63

V: New Life 85

VI: War 102

VII: Troubles 120

VIII: Rich Life 137

IX: Setbacks 152

X: Peace 167

Bang

Swish

Whoosh

Sounds echo in the air

In the room in which

I practice

Me

An amateur

Playing basketball

For the first time

I turn

Grab the ball coming at me

And then

I speak

I: Beginnings

Me

I am a relic

I was named for my great grandfather

Alex, they said

Not knowing the trouble it would cause

Because I did not live alone.

Alexandra

Alex is a boy name

And a girl name

I lived with a girl

Alex was her name as well

The girl name

Alex, short for Alexandra

The boy name

Alex, short for Alexander

Two names

Two genders

Two problems.

Apartment

We live in pink,

In wood,

In the walls of brown.

We live in windows,

We live with sister and father and mother.

We live in whitewashed doors,

In stairs and beds,

In the warm grasp of blankets.

We live in comfort.

We live in chairs and couches and tables.

We live in birthdays,

In candles,

In life.

She

She.

She is me.

She is comfort.

She is feminine.

She is Alexandra.

She lives up, across,

Through stairs and halls.

Through black and brown.

She laughs

She plays

But

She loathes.

Jealousy.

We live in large rooms,

She lives in small.

We live with plenty,

She gets the scraps.

Jealousy.

And

She hugs

She likes

She bores.

She talks, I listen, as

Present floats into past mist.

The problems

I say we leave, says my mother

My family was poor

My sister