When a new student recently told me I should ”get a poetry book about LeBron James” I knew I’d found the perfect reader for Charles R. Smith Jr.’s Hoop Kings. All the copies of Hoop Kings copies were checked out from my site’s library but I was happy to discover that author Smith had published a sequel back in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic.
Hoop Kings 2: New Royalty is an appealingly slim volume that includes a poem entitled “Royalty” about none other than LeBron James.
Similar in style to the first Hoop Kings, the bold graphic design of this sequel, the large size of the font, and the brevity, specificity, and rhythms of the ten or so poems are made entirely accessible to developing readers.
The backmatter includes poem notes and short paragraphs by the poet fleshing out a bit of his poetic process, thoughts, struggles and goals for each poem, a perfect snippet to help new, young poets think about their art. Highly recommended for older emerging and developing readers who love basketball. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber
Smith J., Charles R. Hoop Kings 2: New Royalty. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2021.
Click here for a teaching guide from the publisher. Contains a few ideas for content area applications in Social Studies, Math, and Art in addition to ELA/Writing.
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