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Locations
Call Number: Teen Fiction
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Co-written 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.

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A Little Disappointed submitted by sushai on June 18, 2018, 5:35pm I got this book because it was chosen as the state of Michigan read for this year. I was fascinated to find out about Malcolm X's younger years, especially the time he spent living in Michigan.
I found it difficult to empathize with young Malcolm as he shoplifts, takes advantage of girls, and sells drugs, etc., only because the book shows him having no remorse and finding no direction at all until the last chapter where he goes to jail and "finds God."
Other books I've read about Malcolm X showed him to be a complex man and a deep thinker; this book did not seem to show him moving in that direction at all.