Unbeatable

October 1, 2018

Gr 7 Up-At one time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stated that NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson was "the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball." In this well-researched and skillfully written account, Hoose discusses the high school career of Robertson and how his all-black high school overcame tremendous odds in winning the state championship in 1955 and 1956. These wins were historic because it was the first all-black school in the country to win a statewide basketball championship-and it was the first time a team from Indianapolis had ever won. With sharp insight and an engaging writing style, the author relates how high school basketball engulfed the way of life in different Indiana communities and was instrumental in dismantling parts of segregation. Numerous black-and-white photos and newspaper articles supplement this exceedingly engaging work. VERDICT A great purchase for YA nonfiction collections.-Jeanette Lambert, formerly at Nashville-Davidson County Schools, TN

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Anyone who's seen Hoosiers has an idea how crazy Indianans are about basketball. What it doesn't hint at, though, is the story Newbery Honor Book author Hoose tells?that not only was Indiana, and its capital, Indianapolis, nuts about b-ball, but that the success of a black high school, built in the 1920s at the instigation of the Ku Klux Klan, would through its hardwood success drive integration in the 1950s in a place known as "the South of the North." Crispus Attucks High School didn't even have an adequate gym, nor were they initially allowed to play other public schools, but in the early 1950s, things slowly began to change. The 1954-55 team won the state championship, finally overcoming bad officiating and gaining the respect of the still largely segregated city. As Hoose puts it, "Attucks varsity were becoming activists for racial justice by excelling at something that was dearly prized by whites." The story of triumph covers personalities as well as history: Oscar Robertson, the NBA basketball great, was the centerpiece of a team led by Ray Crowe, a remarkable coach. Their backgrounds and what drove them are woven into the exciting descriptions of games. Excessively readable, this should appeal to sports fans and those looking for a good book about the civil rights era. Exemplary notes and sources will push readers?adults included?to learn even more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Hoose begins in the early 1920s, when Indianapolis's KKK-influenced school board created a separate, African Americanonly high school. By the 1950s, Crispus Attucks High had a seemingly unstoppable all-black basketball team (including future NBA great Oscar Robertson), which won two straight state titles and brought some progress to a racially divided city. Dramatic photographs, numerous sidebars, newspaper headlines, and thorough back matter enrich a thought-provoking volume. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
By the end of the 1956 basketball season, Indianapolis's all-black Crispus Attucks High School had won forty-five straight games and two straight state titles. Its star, Oscar Robertson (later known as the Big O, one of the greatest players the game has ever seen), helped to usher in a new era of basketball, characterized by fast breaks, one-handed jump shots, and slam dunks?the fast, creative, airborne game we know today. But not only that: the team brought some progress to a racially divided city widely known as the South of the North. Hoose begins the story in the early 1920s, when Indianapolis's Ku Klux Klan-influenced school board (in 1924, nearly one-third of Indiana's white male population were Klan members) created a separate, African American-only high school (up until the 1920s, Indianapolis schools had been integrated, albeit imperfectly). By the 1950s, Crispus Attucks High had an all-black basketball team that seemed unbeatable and was so respected that white schools began recruiting black players, and parts of the city became more open to African Americans (although that did not extend to celebrating Attucks's title with the usual parade downtown). Continuing a theme from earlier works such as The Boys Who Challenged Hitler (rev. 7/15) and Claudette Colvin (rev. 3/09), Hoose demonstrates how young people can affect history. Dramatic photographs, numerous sidebars, newspaper headlines, and thorough back matter enrich a thought-provoking volume. dean Schneider

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from August 15, 2018
Acclaimed author Hoose (The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, 2015, etc.) returns to his home state with the true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indianapolis, anchored by one of the greatest players of all time.Recently honored with the NBA's Lifetime Achievement Award, Oscar Robertson is known for his accomplishments both as an athlete and advocate for NBA players. However, few know the story of how the Naptown basketball savant was able to lead his segregated high school to back-to-back state championships. Hoose does a brilliant job of portraying the surrounding historical context, exploring the migration of black families from the South to Indiana, showing how Jim Crow practices were just as present in the North as in the South, and describing the deep groundswell of support for basketball in Indiana. The inspiration for the book was the Big O himself, who told Hoose that the Ku Klux Klan "did something they couldn't foresee by making Attucks an all-black school. The city of Indianapolis integrated because we were winning." Could basketball have served as a pathway to racial progress within the Hoosier state? Attucks! doesn't pretend that we've outlived the racism of the American past, all the while showing readers how being grounded in one's self-worth and committed to the pursuit of excellence can have a lasting impact on a community.A powerful, awe-inspiring basketball-driven history. (biographies, sources, notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

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