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Summary
Summary
Winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teens
A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Cowritten by Malcolm X's daughter, this riveting and revealing novel follows the formative years of the man whose words and actions shook the world.
Malcolm Little's parents have always told him that he can achieve anything, but from what he can tell, that's a pack of lies--after all, his father's been murdered, his mother's been taken away, and his dreams of becoming a lawyer have gotten him laughed out of school. There's no point in trying, he figures, and lured by the nightlife of Boston and New York, he escapes into a world of fancy suits, jazz, girls, and reefer. But Malcolm's efforts to leave the past behind lead him into increasingly dangerous territory. Deep down, he knows that the freedom he's found is only an illusion--and that he can't run forever.
X follows Malcolm from his childhood to his imprisonment for theft at age twenty, when he found the faith that would lead him to forge a new path and command a voice that still resonates today.
Author Notes
Kekla Magoon is a writer, editor, speaker, and educator. She is the author of Camo Girl, 37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order), How It Went Down, and numerous non-fiction titles for the education market. Her book, The Rock and the River, won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award. She also leads writing workshops for youth and adults and is the co-editor of YA and Children's Literature for Hunger Mountain, the arts journal of Vermont College.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
Shabazz, Malcolm Xs third daughter, and YA author Magoon (Fire in the Streets, rev. 9/12; How It Went Down, rev. 11/14) team up to present a vivid, immediate fictionalized portrait of the civil rights activist and the forces that shaped him. Readers are immersed in young Malcolms world, from his fractured and tragic Depression-era childhood in Lansing, Michigan (father killed, mother committed to an asylum, siblings placed in separate foster homes), through his heady teen years in Boston and Harlem (where everythings a hustle, and I got my own hustle now), through his conviction and imprisonment for larceny, ending with his conversion to Islam in his mid-twenties. Thanks to the strength of the intimate first-person voice, readers experience right along with the adolescent Malcolm his thirst for excitement, the seductive siren call of 1940s Roxbury and Harlem street life, his increasingly risky and dangerous choices, and finally his growing awareness of the impact of racism on his and his familys past and on his present and future. In prison: The guard who knocks me down and puts his foot on my facehe didnt build these walls. He didnt invent the word nigger, however well hes learned to throw it. Its all so much bigger, and so built-in. The direct cause-and-effect connection between Malcolms epiphany that he doesnt need to fight Papa anymore and his acceptance of Islam feels imposed, but theres very little else that doesnt ring true in this powerful, compelling work of historical fiction. Extensive back matter includes a bibliography that steers young people toward further reading about Malcolm X and black history. martha v. Parravano (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
New York Review of Books Review
it would be fascinating to get Malcolm X's take on the current surge of racial tension in America. At first glance, we seem to have made great strides toward equality since the civil rights movement. We elected Barack Obama, a black man, president. Twice. We almost universally condemn outright racism. But is it possible that racism (most notably against African-Americans) hasn't receded so much as it has evolved and become more refined? "The elegant racist," Ta-Nehisi Coates has written, "knows how to injure nonwhite people while never summoning the specter of white guilt." Housing segregation, for instance, is both devastating and hard to detect. And according to the Sentencing Project, a group that advocates for prison reform, racial minorities are more likely than whites to be arrested, to be convicted and to face stiff sentences. With recent racially charged events like the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City - as well as the rising plea for more representation of minorities in children's literature from the We Need Diverse Books movement - I can't think of a more appropriate time for a book about the early years of Malcolm X. Malcolm's own daughter llyasah Shabazz ("Growing Up X") and Kekla Magoon ("How It Went Down") have written just such a book, choosing, as Shabazz explains in a thorough and thoughtful author's note, to use the novel form as opposed to straight nonfiction for the sake of cohesion and the chance to take a few artistic liberties. "X" follows a teenage Malcolm Little as he escapes Lansing, Mich., and follows a trail that leads him to Boston, then to Harlem, back to Boston, and ultimately to prison after years of crime catch up to him. Not surprisingly, the most interesting journey of the story is the one that takes place inside Malcolm's mind and heart. On his first bus ride out of Michigan, Malcolm sees a black body hanging from a tree near the side of the road. An older black man sitting nearby tries to shield Malcolm's eyes, but Malcolm has already seen it, and his thoughts go directly to his own father, an activist who may have met a similar fate back when Malcolm was just 6. Years later, when Malcolm is in Harlem and committed to his new life as a hustler, he hears Billie Holiday sing "Strange Fruit," that haunting song about lynching. It hits young Malcolm at his core. He sits there in silence long after Holiday has left the stage. But Malcolm isn't quite ready to process the depth of this hurt. Instead of reflecting on his father this time - the fascinating evolution of his relationship with his dead father, incidentally, is one of the book's highlights - he muses: "Got to have some reefer after that. A little whiskey." Skillfully rendered moments like this are what make the novel so successful. Shabazz and Magoon expertly guide the reader by presenting loaded scene after loaded scene, often making us watch young Malcolm choose the wrong path or opt for the buzz of the street over the pull of family and principle. The result is a satisfying (and appropriate) complexity. Malcolm's love for his mother, father and siblings is palpable, even when he's pulling away from them or sabotaging those bonds. THE NOVEL ELUDES any neatly tied bows at the end, as well. Instead of closing with Malcolm well on the way to fame, "X" leaves us with the beginning of his awakening while he was still in prison, where he shows a growing interest in books and converts to Islam (a return to his roots, the novel is careful to point out). In one climactic moment Malcolm reflects, "I am my father's son," and instead of being part of what's wrong with the world, he vows to fight against the wrongness. There are a few minor missteps. The pacing is off in places - in the first third of the book we're unnecessarily yanked back and forth in time - and I longed for more reflective depth from Malcolm, especially given the major historical events taking place around him, like the Great Depression and World War II. Still, "X" is a powerful, honest look at the early years of one of our country's most important civil rights leaders. Most exciting of all is the prospect that his story will awaken a new generation of young activists, inspiring them to step into what remains a vital fight. ? MATT DE LA PEÑA is the author of several novels, including "Mexican WhiteBoy" and, most recently, "The Living," which has just been released in paperback.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Shabazz, the third daughter of Malcolm X, has novelized her famous father's coming-of-age years. Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm grew up in Detroit, MI, where his father was shot when he was six and his mother was institutionalized when he was 13. Malcolm spent his remaining school years in Michigan foster homes, becoming class president and earning straight As. Eventually Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half-sister, Ella, where he chose the fast-paced Roxbury night life over his sister and her Society Hill friends. He fell into drinking, drugging, hustling, and landed in prison. Actor Dion Graham reads with a huge amount of emotion and creates a believable Malcolm. VERDICT Strong language and sexual references make this book more appropriate for high school than junior high. Students may want to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X or Shabazz's Growing Up X (Random, 2002) for the rest of the story.-Mary Lee Bulat, Harwinton Public Library, CT © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.