Hoop Queens [Paperback]

Young basketball fans will have a hard time keeping still. . . . A great choice to energize poetry units. — Booklist

Margo Dydek, Ticha Penicheiro, Chamique Holdsclaw . . . these are just three of the twelve women profiled in a dynamic group of poems honoring some of the best female players in professional basketball. With action photographs and kinetic lyrics illustrating each player’s style, Hoop Queens will grab the attention of any kid who loves basketball — and score a slam-dunk with teachers of poetry.

An International Reading Association Children’s Choice

A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

A Chicago Public Library Best Book

Back matter includes notes on the poems and an author’s note.Both photographs and verse highlight athleticism, not prettiness. . . . the celebration of raw female power makes this . . . a worthwhile addition to collections of sports poetry.
—Kirkus Reviews

Smith has earned the title of Hoops Poet Laureate and he knows his b-ball, giving praise to a wide variety of skills and styles; his verses often have a throbbing rhythm that suggests rap as well as the pounding of players' feet on wooden floors, and he's often clever with internal rhymes and echoes that intricately structure the lines.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Pure pleasure for basketball fans and inspiration for kids who doubted poetry was alive, this book, like Swoopes, is 'all that.'
—School Library Journal

As fast and flashy as a great WNBA game.
—Chicago TribuneCharles R. Smith Jr. says that while growing up in California, he read anything he could get his hands on. "Reading booklsÄ