Graphic novels are most definitely the perfect medium through which to tell sports stories. The combination of images and text conveys the dynamic action of athletic competition. And in Hena Khan's We Are Big Time it conveys other layers of a truly engaging narrative.
There's the big adjustments Aliya has to make when she has to move from Florida to Wisconsin partway through her first year of high school, leaving behind her school, her friends--the only home she's ever known--because of her father's new job.
There's the struggles of her new consistently losing by big margins basketball team to learn to work better as a team.
There's the implicit (and sometimes explicit) bias this hijab wearing all Muslim team encounters on the part of people like reporters.
But you know what I like best about it? It's fiction based on fact. Khan was inspired by a Wisconsin educator who sent her a piece about the Salem School girls' basketball team. She was able to look up news coverage of the team and interview the coach and some of the players.
On a purrrsonal note, it is the winter solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year, which means that from now on we'll be gaining minutes of daylight. To me it's a truly joyous 😊 😃 😄 ☺️ prospect. By the calendar winter starts today. Meteorological winter has already gone on too long in some parts of the country. Until school starts up again I'm going to do some crafts every day to work on my fine motor skills. I was painting with a paintbrush this morning, something I've studiously avoided.
A great big shout out goes out to the amazing volunteers who run Orono Thrift Shop where I scored 3 brand new children's crafts kits for fifty cents each.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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