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.
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“Depicting
the formative years of Malcolm X, narrator Dion Graham captures the great
humanity of the civil rights leader…Hooking listeners with his dynamic rendition of the
opening scene, Graham portrays Malcolm on the run in Harlem, and then moves
deftly between the bravado of his teen years and the vulnerability of his
childhood in periodic flashbacks. As the text portrays Malcolm’s keen
intelligence as well as the insecurity and pain that drive him, Graham delivers
a sensitive performance that keeps the time shifts clear and gives vibrancy to
the large cast of characters. The production concludes with historical notes as
well as an afterword read by coauthor Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter. A
gripping, moving, and illuminating production. Winner of the AudioFile
Earphones Award.”
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AudioFile