Winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/TeensA 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."