Lion Dancers

Tse, Cai. Lion Dancers

August 13, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Wei attends Bird's Beak Middle School and is on the basketball team, but none of his teammates ever chose him, and he gets no time on the court. His best friend, Jun, is much better at basketball, and she encourages him to become more involved with the people on the team. When he is walking home, he runs into a man with a Lion Dancer t shirt; his father was a very good lion dancer with a competitive team before he died in a car accident, leaving Wei to be raised by his grandmother. The man tells Wei to come to the training center for the Southern Phoneix team. Having trained a  bit with his father, and danced before, Wei still does a good job, but is surprised when he is yelled at by Hung and told to go away. The adults at the center tell Hung that he should not treat others like that. They don't know about the history that the two have; Hung used to be the "tail" of the lion to Wei's "head", and the two were a good team until they fought with each other. The other dancers welcome Wei, and he participates in the Lunar New Year Lion Dances. The team is hired by businesses to come and do the dances, which culminate in the lion reaching for the "cheng" (cabbage). If the cheng is successfully retrieved, it means that the business will be successful. Hung is angry when he once again has to be the tail for Wei, and the two don't work well together. There is a very bad performance at a local mall that is barely salvaged. Wei eventually talks to Hung, and tells him that the people who are tails are the strongest people on the dance team, and that Wei himself is not strong enough to be the tail. At the end of the season, there is a big celebration. The mysterious captain of the team is revealed, and a competition team is announced. Wei and Hung are able to work together and be successful. 

Strengths: I didn't know anything at all about lion dancing, but this had a lot of good information about the sport! The beginnings of the chapters in this graphic novel have information about steps, costumes, and different parts of the dance that were very interesting. Wei's trouble fitting in to school is realistic; he really wants to get back to lion dancing, but is conflicted because of his father's death, as well as his interactions with Hung. I really enjoyed all of the discussion about teamwork, and found it intriguing that the lion dancers all had to try to place the drums and cymbals, since they are so important to keeping the dancers on their marks. There is some action and suspense with the dances, especially when one business has hung their cheng very high, and Wei has to really work with his partner to reach it. Having worked in a giant chicken costume in high school for a fast food restaurant, I can't imagine how hard it is to do these lion dances! 
Weaknesses: I am not entirely sure where this is set; the author is from Australia, but there are some of the store fronts that have names in Chinese characters on them in the illustrations. It's not all that important to the story, but would have been interesting to know. 
What I really think: There are so few graphic novels about sports, and this is an excellent look into what activities are available for children in other parts of the world. I love that this is based on the author's own experiences with the Chinese Youth Lion Dance Team! This was a very unusual and engaging story.