This story itself has appeal for teens who love basketball, but I found it to be a bit difficult to access for some reluctant readers.

This was great. I'm not into sports, but you don't need to be to get completely wrapped up in this one. Hoose really expertly interweaves the personal stories of the team members and the information about the political climate at the time. I also loved that he included links at the end to watch the championship games on Youtube!

Several member so of my family attended Attucks. My uncle was the first person in our family to graduation from Attucks. I attended the school later when it became a middle-school. Proud that after all these years, authors and publishers are still highlighting our school. It was a school meant to fail. But we proved them wrong. This book is is currently on order with my library. Can't wait to put it on display for Black History Month.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this 10/23/18 nonfiction release. I wanted to read this ahead of time not to decide if I was going to purchase it for my collection, but to see how many copies I would need. Answer: multiple.
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This book tackles a LOT in just 160 pages, which is kind of why I went with 4 stars instead of 5. The ending felt kind of rushed. Anyway, the author traces the history of Indianapolis’s Crispus Attucks High School. He covers its role in the continued segregation of schools in 1950s Indianapolis long after other areas were integrated and how a special coach and group of players made its basketball team one of the best in the state, becoming the first all-black school to win an IHSAA state title. He specifically follows the family of Oscar Robertson, who is regarded as one of the best to ever play the game. As a native Hoosier who is well familiar with the prominence of the boys’ basketball tournament, I was fascinated by this part of its history. I was similarly struck by the local history and of the city I have called home for 11 years. This book is a must-purchase for all middle school collections. I will be buying several.

Hailing from Indianapolis and an ardent basketball fan, I am excited to share a new non-fiction book that comes out October 23rd - Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a City. This true story of the all-black Indianapolis high school, Crispus Attucks, tells the story of how a sports team led to the integration of a segregated city. When the Crispus Attacks Tigers won the Indiana state championship in 1955, it showed the world that black athletes are not inferior. Led by the future NBA star Oscar Robertson, the brilliantly coached team of boys, raised in poverty, dominated championship play. They were the first championship team from Indianapolis and the first all-black team to win a racially open tournament, ultimately leading to integrated teams in the future. Although National Book Award winner Phillip Loose tells the history of the high school, he focuses on the role Oscar Robertson played which makes the story more intimate, giving us a Birdseye view of the racism he and others experienced.

Phillip Hoose used Attucks to introduce me to a part of segregation that is not common in textbooks, but should be. Reading about a coach who used basketball to break the color barriers is a must read for high school history classes. Mr. Hoose gives a narrative perspective on segregation, as well as the lives of some famous basketball players and how they worked to change a community. What a great read!

If you are an information junky like me, you’ll love this book. You not only get the story of Crispus Attucks, but the book is loaded with pictures of the time, FYI articles related to the story, and interviews with first-hand testimonials, It was a bit daunting, changing from each. I think I would have preferred all the Attucks story as the chapters and the added FYI’s/pictures, etc in between chapters. Just a suggestion for better flow. HOWEVER, sports enthusiasts are going to love this and pray for a movie!

This book is a definite must read! I found myself mesmerized by the history I had no idea existed,, and could not put it down. I cannot wait to put it in the hands of my students. Not only will they learn an important lesson in American history, they will see a great example of hard work and perseverance in the face of adversity. You do not have to love basketball to love this story. The author has done a great job showing us the progression of civil rights through a medium we all can buy into, - routing for the underdog!

Attucks! kept my interest from the tip off to the final buzzer. It is so much more than the story of Oscar Robertson's high school basketball career. It is the story of desegregation and the civil rights movement in the US during the 1950s. It would be interesting to read Attucks! in a high school current events class and then use it to compare and contrast our society now with Indy in the 50s.

I rarely write book reviews, but Hoose’s Attucks more than deserves one. This narrative non-fiction book brings the sport of high school basketball alive. But that’s only a part of the whole… Hoose vividly portrays the barriers and threats that African American athletes faced in the still segregated early 1950’s.
Without missing a beat, Hoose includes background information on the Great Migration, the KKK and Indiana basketball. All in all this makes for a great read... one that will resonate with all basketball fans and one that explains how brave African American educators, coaches and athletes managed to end some of Indiana’s more nefarious segregation laws.
This is a must for all middle and high school libraries!