Hoop Queens 2

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

Charles R. Smith Jr. brings his high-energy verse to praise a new generation of WNBA basketball stars, paired with dynamic photos of the players in action.

Are your moves as smooth as A’ja Wilson’s? Do you make the game look effortless like Sue Bird? Are you a complete player like Candace Parker? A scoring machine like Diana Taurasi? Whether it’s the towering Brittney Griner, or Elena Delle Donne doing her thing, or Breanna Stewart with her big bag of tricks, Charles R. Smith’s indomitable wordplay revels in the superb talents of thirteen of the best female players in basketball. Matched with kinetic, stylized photos of the players, these upbeat poems capture the elite agility and skills the professionals bring to the game. End notes delve into how the author uses a variety of poetic forms and language to spotlight each athlete.

Featuring the players:

Sue Bird

Liz Cambage

Elena Delle Donne

Skylar Diggins-Smith

Brittney Griner

Jonquel Jones

Nneka & Chiney Ogwumike

Candace Parker

Breanna Stewart

Diana Taurasi

Courtney Vandersloot

A’Ja Wilson

About the Author

Charles R. Smith Jr. is the author of Hoop Queens and its companions, Hoop Kings and Hoop Kings 2: New Royalty, as well as Soccer Queens, Chameleon, Pick-Up Game with Marc Aronson, and the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali, illustrated by Bryan Collier. He is also the recipient of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for his photographs in My People, an adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem. Charles R. Smith Jr. lives in New York.