The Original Bucky Lew: Basketball’s First Black Professional by Chris Boucher


The Original Bucky Lew: Basketball’s First Black Professional by Chris Boucher
Publisher: Wings ePress
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Bucky Lew burst through pro basketball’s color barrier to become the first Black player in an otherwise white league. And playing was just a start. He wanted to dominate in every single role in the game—from player to coach to general manager to owner.

His dream looked to be deferred when Harry Hough, the league’s best player, refused to play against him in a regular season matchup that the press billed as a preview of the championship. Not only were their teams the best, Hough was the league’s top scorer and Bucky its best defender.

All eyes were on the pair. What would Bucky do? Should he just go away or could he rally his teammates around him?

What about the fans—the thousands in the arena and those around the league following the rivalry in the papers? Or the league as a whole? Would they support him or move on without him?

The stakes were high—it was a fight for the future of the season, the future of the game, and maybe even the future of sports.

Hard work can make all sorts of things possible.

Being a trailblazer isn’t easy. I hadn’t realized how suspicious many people were of playing basketball as a career a century ago, and that was only one of the many obstacles the main character faced in his lifetime. His patience and perseverance only made me like him even more. Bucky experienced a lot of hard times, but he also paved the way for countless black athletes behind him.

While I admired the author’s desire to stick as closely as possible to historical facts about the protagonist’s life, it would have been helpful to have more character development in this novel. I learned a lot about Bucky’s accomplishments but not much about what it might be like to sit down and talk to him other than the fact that he was clearly quite intelligent. Was he also as quietly confident as I thought he might be based on some other context clues? Knowing more about what sort of personality he had and how fame affected him would have gone a long way to bumping up my rating for this book.

Some of the most memorable scenes were the ones that talked about how both the players and fans reacted to this brand new sport. For example, games could become a little violent or cause injuries in part because there wasn’t a clear understanding of what was and wasn’t acceptable on the court or off it. Other passages talked about how white people reacted to a racially integrated sport were also well worth checking out. There were a lot of nuances to these reactions depending on who the narrator was talking about and how far into Bucky’s career things had progressed, and some of them pleasantly surprised me.

The pacing was slow for my tastes, especially in the first third or so of this novel. Being the first Black professional basketball player is a huge deal, and I was hoping for more descriptions of how Bucky felt about it and how his life changed as people began to take notice of him. These things were addressed later on, but I struggled a bit to remain interested because of how slowly certain conflicts developed and how much time was spent describing other things instead.

Friendship was another theme of this book that I connected with. The number of people who played basketball well enough to do so professionally back then was small, so the same folks were often mentioned over and over again throughout the years. I enjoyed the stories about the friendships that were forged through the early days of this sport and how much kindness they showed to each other when someone was injured or otherwise in need of help.

The Original Bucky Lew: Basketball’s First Black Professional was a thought-provoking read.

Front Pivot by Chris Boucher


Front Pivot by Chris Boucher
Publisher: Wings ePress
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Noel’s brash front masks a secret past. No one knows how hard he works on his game or how far he and his brother will go to find their answers.

A high school legend, Pax forgoes college ball after becoming obsessed with their father’s Afghanistan War experience. Officially, he died a hero. But the journal he left behind suggests it’s more complicated.

Pax blames their dad for not finishing the job and decides it’s his responsibility. Noel isn’t so sure about either. And, if everyone in his family has to be a hero, how will he measure up?

Who should decide whether or not someone is a hero?

One of my favorite subplots involved a journal Noel’s father wrote when he was a soldier in Afghanistan. The entries gave Noel and his brother a peek into parts of their father’s life that they would have otherwise known about. I enjoyed seeing how they reacted to the stories their dad told about what it was like to be a soldier overseas and how he felt about his mission. The more they learned about him, the more curious I became about what they’d discover next.

It would have been helpful to have more character development. While I liked Noel and the people closest to him quite a bit, I never felt like I got the opportunity to see them grow and change in the ways they could have despite all of the dramatic shifts happening in their lives in many cases. This was something I mentioned about the first book in this series as well. It’s my hope that any future sequels will dive into this part of the storytelling much more deeply as the storylines themselves were well done and memorable.

The plot twists were well written and exciting. This was especially true as the ending grew closer and the stakes were higher. I had a good time taking note of what had happened so far and trying to guess what might occur next. There were a few times when I was completely surprised by what the author had in store for his characters. It’s always neat to read something that keeps the audience on our toes like that!

This is the sequel to Pivot Move. I’d recommend reading this series in order to get the most out of it.

Front Pivot was a thought-provoking read for anyone who likes tales about basketball or uncovering old family secrets.

Pivot Move by Chris Boucher


Pivot Move by Chris Boucher
Publisher: Wings ePress
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

At 14, Boyd’s life goes the way of his hair–down the drain. His dad leaves and his curly brown mop follows. Now he longs to be free, too.

Things seem to improve when he starts ballin’ with the Blazers. He works hard to win over his new coach and teammates–too hard–and his misguided attempts alienate more than they impress.

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As Freidrich Nietzsche says, “no one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.” Remember these words as you read this review and book.

Boyd genuinely felt like a young teenager to me. His mind and body were changing rapidly in ways he couldn’t always predict, much less understand. This was especially true when it came to his reaction to the alopecia he’d developed fairly recently. Sometimes I shook my head at the impulsive decisions he made, but they were all common things not only for his age group but for his personality in general as it had been explained to me.

I would have liked to see more attention paid to the character development in this novel. As interesting as the characters were, it would have been nice to get to know them better and see them evolve as a result of the things that happened to them. This was especially true when it came to Boyd’s mother who was a pretty critical and discouraging parent. She put down her son’s interests so often that I wished the narrator had dug into this part of her personality much more thoroughly. There was a lot of space here to explore why she behaved this way and how she thought it was going to improve an already tough situation.

The basketball scenes were explained well. This wasn’t a sport I know much about, so it was helpful to go into as much detail about the various drills and moves the players were expected to learn as it did. I also appreciated the passages that described how and why the relationships between team mates can change in an instant depending on what happens during practice or games.

Basketball fans and anyone who has or is curious about alopecia, take note of Pivot Move. It has interesting things to say about both of these topics.