Phil Hoose of Portland penned “Attucks! Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a City” which will be featured at the National Book Festival in August. (Photo by Gordon Chibowski/Portland Newspapers)

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Library is pleased to announce that “Attucks! Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a City” by award-winning author Phillip Hoose has been selected to represent Indiana at this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019.

“Attucks! Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a City” details the incredible story of the 1955 Crispus Attucks Tigers of Indianapolis, who were the first all-black high school basketball team in the nation to win a state championship. Led by future NBA superstar Oscar Robertson, the Tigers, also the first state champions from Indianapolis, faced adversity in the form of segregation, racism and isolation. The book, A Kirkus Reviews Best YA Nonfiction of 2018 selection, was released in October of 2018.

Hoose, a native Hoosier now residing in Maine, whose accolades include being honored with the Katahdin Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Maine Library Association, said “It’s a great honor to represent my home state in telling one of Indiana’s most important and inspiring stories. Hoosiers across all walks of life will love this book. The story of the Crispus Attucks High School basketball team is not only heartwarming, it’s also an incredibly important story for everyone to know.”

The National Book Festival, which will take place at the Washington Convention Center, drew at least 200,000 attendees last year, according to Library of Congress estimates. The book will be featured in the Pavilion of States at the festival. “The National Book festival is fun and frantic! I’m thrilled to be promoting such a dynamic book at this event,” said Suzanne Walker, director of the Indiana Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Visit here for more information on the National Book Festival.

The Indiana State Library is dedicated to serving Indiana residents, leading and supporting the library community and preserving Indiana history.