“Swing! is different from my other books. It is autobiographical in many ways. But at its core, Swing! is a story about the magic of childhood heroes.”
It makes sense that Illustrator James Yang finally wrote a book about tennis, because the Yang family is big on racket sports. Much like the main character in this story, James loved watching tennis with his dad. “Our favorite players were Rod Laver, Stan Smith, and later, Björn Borg and John McEnroe. But the player Dad and I loved rooting for the most was Arthur Ashe.”
Since the Yangs were the only Korean family in our small town in Oklahoma, it was natural for Ashe to become a role model for them as they saw how he navigated the predominately white world of professional tennis in the ’60s and ’70s. As much of a good sportsman as Ashe was, he was an even better person off the court. Ashe used his status as a top player to speak out against various injustices both at home and abroad. Ashe once said, “From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.”
As much as the book is an homage to Ashe, Yang also honors the idea of role models with not only Ashe, but his dad as well. “I hope when reading Swing! you will appreciate Arthur Ashe the way my dad and I did. This book is an homage to the role models I was able to have in both of these men. For the adults who may be reading this book, I also hope it rekindles memories of your childhood heroes and how they helped shape you into who you are today.”
For more of James’ work, visit his Workbook portfolio.
Represented by David Goldman.
