The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz (review)

Shabazz, Ilyasah The Awakening of Malcolm X; by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson. Farrar, 2021 [288p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780374313296 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780374313319 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 6-9

In Shabazz's reimagining of her father's early incarceration following his involvement in a robbery, she explores how the roiling stew of prison brutality, personal arrogance and anger, evolving sibling relationships, and the embrace of Islam turned Malcolm Little, who entered prison as little more than a confused boy, into Malcolm X, who left prison as a man with clarity of purpose. Critical to this transformation was Malcolm's transfer from the hellish conditions at Charlestown Prison to the ostensibly more enlightened management of Norfolk Prison Colony, where his correspondence with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the availability of a library with challenging material, and the discipline of participating in formal debate coalesced. After his release he joined his family in the Nation of Islam and embarked on a radical path forward, clear-eyed in his understanding of systemic racism, and resolute in claiming the power owing to a Black man of superior Benin lineage. Through Malcolm's memories of parental guidance and his participation in wide-ranging prison conversations, readers join him in weighing viewpoints on topics from Marcus Garvey's pan-Africanism to the ill-defined purpose of incarceration in America. Shabazz concludes with a chapter that positions Malcolm X in 1952, an ascending NOI star who has just met his wife-to-be. It's a compelling account, for younger readers than Shabazz's absorbing X (BCCB 2/15), with an interesting focus on the famous figure's key philosophical development. Curiously, there is nothing in her concluding notes (which comment specifically on several points of deliberate alteration of history) that mentions his future break with NOI, or even his assassination. This title will therefore work best with readers seeking additional perspective on a familiar figure or as prelude to another work on his later life.