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X: A Novel | LitPick Book Reviews
X: A Novel
X: A Novel
X: A Novel
Kekla Magoon, Ilyasah Shabazz
A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor BookCowritten 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.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Historical Fiction

Age Level: 

  • Mature Young Adult
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Malcolm Little wants to get away from his home town of Lansing after his mother was taken away and he and his siblings were left to fend for themselves. He decides to go to Boston. He discovers a new world of women, drugs, hustling, stealing, liquor, and other things his parents would never have approved of. Malcolm changes his name, his dressing style, and most of his moral values. Later he discovers what he truly believes and what he will do with his life as he becomes Malcolm X.

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At age fifteen, Malcolm Little can’t leave tiny Lansing, Michigan for Boston fast enough.  Ever since his human rights activist father was killed when he was six, Malcolm, his seven siblings, and his mother have been struggling to make ends meet as an impoverished black family in a mostly white community.  More tragedy strikes when Mrs.

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