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Review: Malcolm Lives! by Ibram X. Kendi

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Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers by Ibram X. Kendi

Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers
Ibram X. Kendi
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published May 13, 2025

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About Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers

In collaboration with the Malcolm X Estate, this powerful biography for young readers is a modern classic in the making, written by #1 New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi.

Published 100 years after his birth, Malcolm Lives! is a ground-breaking narrative biography of one of the most influential Americans of all time.

Dr. Kendi expertly crafts a propulsive telling of Malcolm X’s life—from birth to death. He provides context for both Malcolm’s choices—and those around him—not just painting an intimate picture of a famous figure, but of the social and political landscape of America during the civil rights movement. Ultimately, Malcolm’s true legacy is a journey toward anti-racism. Just like history, Malcolm lives.

With short, evocative chapters, exclusive archival documents, photographs from the Malcolm X Collection at the NYPL Schomburg Center, and extensive backmatter, this is a thoughtful and accessible, must-read for all Americans.

My Review

I feel like my history textbooks never gave the appropriate amount of space to Malcolm X, his life, and his work. I suspect that some of that has to do with the fact that his message was a lot more challenging, especially for white Americans. At times, he was very clear that he had nothing to say to white America. For much of his life, he saw his mission, his calling as being to Black America.

This book doesn’t only relate Malcolm X’s life story from beginning to end. It also offers some context for the choices he made. At certain points, Dr. Kendi asks readers directly to consider the facts of history. He asks reader to think beyond what happened in one moment of Malcolm X’s life, but to look at the pattern of history before his life and since.

Some of the story follows Malcolm X’s life as a member of the Nation of Islam. I think the book explains the goals of the organization and their values really well. It also discusses where the leaders fell short of the values they preached. Dr. Kendi offers some thoughtful critique and, again, some historical context that will help readers place these events in the larger arc of history. He also emphasizes some of the reasons it’s important to know this history.

Conclusion

Earlier this year, I read a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Jonathan Eig. It’s interesting thinking about the lives of these two men, who lived through many of the same moments in history. They had very different experiences and different ideas about what the best path forward for Black Americans would be. I think reading both books or at least learning about both leaders is something that we should all be doing. Malcolm Lives! does a great job educating readers about Malcolm X’s life and his work in America.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to marriage and dating relationships.

Spiritual Content
The book explains the establishment and history of the Nation of Islam and its teachings. Some brief explanations delve into the difference between the teaching of the Nation of Islam and the Islamic faith.

Violent Content
References to racist violence, lynching deaths, destruction of property, attempted murder, murder, and police brutality. Some reference to self-defense. These things are not described in any detail and are mentioned in the context of history. For example, the narrative discusses how someone set fire to Malcolm X’s house when he was a young child, and how it happened again while he was an adult, and that triggered those childhood memories. The author also draws a parallel between the police response to both crimes.

Drug Content
References to smoking cigarettes and using drugs. Nothing shown graphically. This also shows how seriously Malcolm X took his faith, because he stopped smoking or using drugs when he joined the Nation of Islam and later converted to Islam.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

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All American Boys
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Simon & Schuster
Published September 29, 2015

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About All American Boys

Rashad is absent again today.

That’s the sidewalk graffiti that started it all…

Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn’t matter what Rashad said next—that it was an accident, that he wasn’t stealing—the cop just kept pounding him. Over and over, pummeling him into the pavement. So then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again…and again…stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.

And that’s how it started.

And that’s what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend’s older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn’t tell a soul…He’s not even sure he understands it. And does it matter? The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when the school—and nation—start to divide on what happens, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like “racism” and “police brutality.” Quinn realizes he’s got to understand it, because, bystander or not, he’s a part of history. He just has to figure out what side of history that will be.

Rashad and Quinn—one black, one white, both American—face the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn’t die after the civil rights movement. There’s a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.

Cuz that’s how it can end.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for years. I’ve heard so much about it, from the awards that it garnered to the way the story moves readers. In some ways, I feel like I don’t have anything to add to the conversation that hasn’t already been said. It’s an incredible book.

I love that the authors chose to tell this book from two different perspectives: a black boy who experienced brutality at the hands of a police officer and a white boy who bore witness.

Through Rashad’s perspective, we are asked to walk through the physical pain, the shame, and the rage that he feels as a result of his experience. We see his family’s different reactions. His friends.

Then we step into Quinn’s point of view, and we walk through his discomfort. We watch him wrestle with how to respond and what actions to take. We have to sit with the discomfort that he feels. Like Quinn, we go beyond sympathizing with the boy in the hospital. His perspective asks us to do that emotional work for ourselves.

Having point of view characters of two different races also crafts the conversation about race within the story in terms of how racism and privilege impact us all. This is the kind of book that makes you think, and it’s couched in such an accessible story. Both points of view are written conversationally, so it feels like a friend relating what happened directly to you.

I read this book in a single day. It’s the kind of book that you don’t want to put down. Even though I’ve finished, I find myself returning to some moments in the story to think about them again. There’s a lot to think about in these pages.

If you haven’t read All American Boys, add it to your reading list. It’s the kind of book that asks you to listen and bear witness in a really necessary way. Especially now.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity appears in the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to some romantic attraction.

Spiritual Content
References to church service and prayer. Rashad shares his anger at the idea that God watched what happened to him and allowed it to happen. He wonders if he’d feel better if God was looking away or busy instead. He shares these feelings as he’s processing what happened to him and the things that other people say to him about it.

Violent Content
References to police brutality. One scene shows a police officer beating up a teenage boy from the boy’s perspective. Other scenes reference this moment from other perspectives.

Another officer shares an experience in which an unarmed teen was shot.

Police wait at the site of a permitted protest with a tank as if they expect rioting and violence.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol from a flask. One boy convinces a man to buy beer for him and his friends, who are on their way to a party.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Renegade Girls by Nora Neus and Julie Robine

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Renegade Girls: A Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing
Nore Neus
Illustrated by Julie Robine
Little, Brown Ink
Published April 1, 2025

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About Renegade Girls: A Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing

A swoonworthy queer romance set against a riveting story of social change in the 1880s, this historical graphic novel reimagines the life of America’s first stunt girl—a young undercover reporter—and her whirlwind summer of romance and fighting injustice. 

Seventeen-year-old Helena “Nell” Cusack came to New York this summer looking for a story—a real story. She dreams of one day writing hard-hitting articles for the New York Chronicle, but so far she’s only managed to land a job as a lowly society reporter. That is, until Alice Austen strolls into her life, an audacious street photographer who encourages Nell to shake up polite society…and maybe also take a chance on love.

When her best friend, Lucia, is injured while working in a garment factory, Nell is determined to crack the story wide open. Posing as a seamstress, she reports on the conditions from the inside, making a name for herself as the Chronicle’s first-ever stunt girl. But as Nell’s reporting gains momentum, so do the objections of those who oppose her. Will Nell continue to seek justice—even if it hurts her in the end?

Based on real-life stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen, this tenderly drawn narrative is about bringing buried stories to light and the bravery of first love.

My Review

What a fun book! I loved the historical setting and the focus on “stunt girl” reporting. I think the adaptation to graphic novel worked well here, though it meant that some scenes needed to be simplified. The story was very cohesive and the characters felt very real.

As a person with Italian immigrant ancestors, I loved that this is something Neus included in the book, too. It definitely left me feeling with a little more of a personal connection with the story. My great-grandmother worked in a factory during the 1930s/40s after her husband passed away, which is later than when this story is written, but it gave me a chance to reflect on that part of her life a little bit.

The main characters in the book are inspired by real people, though Neus takes some artistic liberty with some elements. The book includes a detailed author’s note that explains which elements are historically accurate.

All in all, I had a great time reading this book, and I would love to see more graphic novels like this one. (Another historical graphic novel on my reading list is I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner.)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Nell sneaks into a factory and poses as a worker while working as an undercover reporter. She could get in a lot of trouble if caught. Someone shows Nell an injury that resulted from high-pressure factory work.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile

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Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes
Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
Norton Young Readers
Published September 27, 2022

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About Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.

My Review

I’m trying to remember when I first learned about Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists at the 1968 Olympics. Probably in 2016 when they were invited to the White House to meet President Obama? I’m not totally sure. At any rate, I went into this book knowing only vaguely what had happened and eager to learn more. I heard about this book when the announcement came that it was on the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature. (That was in the fall of 2022… It has taken me a while to post the review!)

I really like the presentation of the story as a graphic novel. The opening few pages show Tommie Smith getting ready for the famous 1968 Olympic race he would win. As the starting gun goes off, the story jumps to the past, to Tommie’s childhood in Texas where his family work as sharecroppers.

At the close of each chapter of the past, the story snaps back to the race, creating the feel of a series of flashbacks leading up to the moment when Tommie Smith lifted his fist from his place at the top of the winner’s stand. Each snapshot of the past helps illustrate the inequality that still ran rampant through the lives of Black Americans, and why Tommie Smith protested at that critical moment.

The story also follows the country’s response to his protest and how long it took for the nation to recognize the heroism in what he did as well as the personal price he paid in the interim.

Some scenes are heartbreaking. Others were shocking. Each is carefully crafted to tell an incredibly powerful story and an unforgettable period in our history.

Having this story as a graphic novel makes it accessible to a wide variety of readers. It’s an easy book to read in terms of its construction and narrative. The illustrations are strong and emotive, adding so much depth. All in all, I totally get why this novel was longlisted for the National Book Award. It’s fantastic.

Content Notes

Content warning for racial slurs and brief descriptions of racist violence/murder.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters in the story are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
The N-word appears several times, used as a slur against Tommie and others.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mentions of Tommie’s marriages.

Spiritual Content
Mentions of prayer.

Violent Content
One panel shows a man who has been lynched. Others reference violent response to civil rights protests. Tommie receives death threats after he states that Black athletes could boycott the Olympics because of racist treatment on college campuses and other places.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of VICTORY. STAND!: RAISING MY FIST FOR JUSTICE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

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A Song Below Water (A Song Below Water #1)
Bethany C. Morrow
Tor Teen
Published June 2, 2020

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About A Song Below Water

Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Nevermind she’s also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.

But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she’s also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.

My Review

I kind of feel like the cover copy sells this story a bit short. It’s told from both Effie and Tavia’s perspectives, which I loved. A lot of the story has to do with figuring out some of the things Effie is experiencing, which isn’t mentioned at all in the copy.

The characters in general hooked me into the story. Effie’s relationship with her grandparents. Tavia’s relationship with her dad. The boy at the pool. Tavia’s friends in choir. Effie’s partner at the faire. They all made the story so rich and interesting. Both Effie and Tavia felt like unique characters, too, with different voices, but they also felt deeply connected by their relationship.

A SONG BELOW WATER is one of those books that might start off a little slow, but it’s not long before the tension starts building pretty high. The story stays centered around Tavia and Effie, following them as they learn to use their voices and find confidence in who they are. This book drew me right in, and I desperately needed to know what was going to happen.

I think I bought a copy of this book the year it came out, but it took me a long time to finally get to it. I’m absolutely sure I will read more by Bethany C. Morrow. It looks like the second book in the series, A CHORUS RISES, came out in 2021, and follows one of the side characters from this book. I definitely have to check it out!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Tavia and Effie are Black. Other minor characters are Black or Latinx.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are supernatural. Tavia is a siren. Sprites make mischief, stealing items or causing mayhem. A gargoyle appears to be guarding a siren.

Violent Content
Tavia follows a news story about a woman who was murdered. No details about how the murder happened. Four of Effie’s friends turned to stone while playing in a park when she was ten. Tavia and Effie attend a political protest that turns violent when people begin attacking protestors.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin

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Ain’t Burned All the Bright
Jason Reynolds
Illustrated by Jason Griffin
Atheneum
Published January 11, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Ain’t Burned All the Bright

Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop. In about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

So, for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.

My Review

This is another book that totally blew my mind. The story is very simple, but even that is part of its power. The illustrations are so illuminating. I know the story is about oxygen, about breathing, about a flame catching, but that is also what reading this book feels like. It’s that perfect blend of a spark, oxygen, and fuel that creates a burst of flame.

I’ve had this book on my reading list since it came out. I noticed it recently on a Publisher’s Weekly list of best books of 2022, and decided it was time to just read it.

It’s the kind of book that you could read in an hour, less probably, but that you’ll want to take your time with instead. I found that as I read, I wanted to just sit with each illustration and let the words sink in.

I feel like I keep coming back to the fact that at its core, AIN’T BURNED UP THE BRIGHT is a simple story, yet it’s so much more. Maybe that’s what makes it so incredible.

Anyway, I highly recommend this book. I loved it, and I can’t think of anything else like it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
The artwork shows a Black family. The story is from the perspective of a Black boy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to news stories. The words stop short of specifically talking about police violence, but it’s clear that some of the news stories the narrator refers to are those stories. Some of the artwork shows fire.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.