Scan barcode
ameserole's review
5.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Malcolm and Me was so good! In it, you will meet Roberta who is a 13 year old girl living in the 70's. I will also point out the fact that she is African American and is trying to navigate through life while attending a Catholic School. There should be no surprise or shock as to how people were treated throughout this but it doesn't make it an easy pill to swallow either.
Never been to Catholic School before, unless you count Sunday school? (which I wouldn't), and I'm not a big fan of prejudice or racism either. It's still depressing that it exists even today. That being said, I can't say that I've gone through anything that Roberta did. So while I can't fully understand it all or even go through what she (or anyone really) did, I will do my very best to continue to educate myself on everything until the day I die.
Honestly, I loved this book to pieces and think everyone should dive into it. Just to educate yourself and others. Definitely recommendable.
Malcolm and Me was so good! In it, you will meet Roberta who is a 13 year old girl living in the 70's. I will also point out the fact that she is African American and is trying to navigate through life while attending a Catholic School. There should be no surprise or shock as to how people were treated throughout this but it doesn't make it an easy pill to swallow either.
Never been to Catholic School before, unless you count Sunday school? (which I wouldn't), and I'm not a big fan of prejudice or racism either. It's still depressing that it exists even today. That being said, I can't say that I've gone through anything that Roberta did. So while I can't fully understand it all or even go through what she (or anyone really) did, I will do my very best to continue to educate myself on everything until the day I die.
Honestly, I loved this book to pieces and think everyone should dive into it. Just to educate yourself and others. Definitely recommendable.
rkiladitis's review
5.0
Where do I even start with Malcolm and Me? This book blew my mind in the best way possible. It's 1973, and 13-year-old Roberta Farmer has a lot of feelings. She's reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X and discussing Black history and Black Power with her father at home, and clashing with a racist nun at her Philadelphia Catholic school. When she's sent home after a blowup with Sister Elizabeth, she deep dives into the Autobiography, examining her own feelings and frustrations through Malcolm X's lenses. Already a writer, she begins journaling her verse and diary entries, guided by Malcolm, and it gives her the strength she needs as her home life and school life begin unraveling.
There is such power in this book and in the characters. Roberta emerges as an incredible heroine; a self-aware 13-year-old coming of age in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, during Watergate, she questions her own faith in God and in organized religion, in family, and in color. Inspired by an event in the author's life, Malcolm and Me is essential reading that hits that often hard-to-reach middle school/high school age group. Please put this on school (and adult) reading lists, and talk about this book with your tweens and your teens.
There is such power in this book and in the characters. Roberta emerges as an incredible heroine; a self-aware 13-year-old coming of age in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, during Watergate, she questions her own faith in God and in organized religion, in family, and in color. Inspired by an event in the author's life, Malcolm and Me is essential reading that hits that often hard-to-reach middle school/high school age group. Please put this on school (and adult) reading lists, and talk about this book with your tweens and your teens.
poppyjessica's review
4.0
Robin Farmer's new novel 'Malcom and Me' is an honest examination of a teenager grappling with issues of racial prejudice, religion and her own identity. Roberta is one of the few black girls in her year group at Catholic school, high flying and intelligent with dreams of being a writer. When an incident in class, a clash between Roberta's recently fuelled urge to speak out against racism versus her teacher's prejudicial beliefs, causes Roberta to be suspended from school, she becomes increasingly inspired to act on her outrage. Roberta is further driven by her reading of Malcom X's autobiography and emerging family issues in her previously harmonious home setting,
Farmer's novel struck me because of my search for books on racial division appropriate for young teenagers. It doesn't pack the violent and gritty punch of some other young adult books on the same topic (Such as 'Dear Martin', 'The Black Kids' and 'The Hate U Give') but it deals with the issues in a way which would aid the understanding of my younger teenage students at the same stage of their childhood as the strong and powerful Roberta. The setting of the 1970s and the backdrop of the Catholic school add further layers to Roberta's action against racism and introspection throughout the novel. A really interesting read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Farmer's novel struck me because of my search for books on racial division appropriate for young teenagers. It doesn't pack the violent and gritty punch of some other young adult books on the same topic (Such as 'Dear Martin', 'The Black Kids' and 'The Hate U Give') but it deals with the issues in a way which would aid the understanding of my younger teenage students at the same stage of their childhood as the strong and powerful Roberta. The setting of the 1970s and the backdrop of the Catholic school add further layers to Roberta's action against racism and introspection throughout the novel. A really interesting read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
glendareads39's review
4.0
Malcolm and Me is about a girl named Roberta Forest who stands up to racism, learning about herself, family and race in 1970's Philadelphia. Roberta deals with her tumultuous relationship with her family, she grapples with how religion and God can intersect with how we look at race while attending Catholic school. It's told in Roberta's point of view.
Roberta is a young talented writer who comes to terms in dealing with how her school and society operates. Malcolm and Me is an engaging book that everyone should read with the challenges we face today in addressing racism.
Roberta is a young talented writer who comes to terms in dealing with how her school and society operates. Malcolm and Me is an engaging book that everyone should read with the challenges we face today in addressing racism.
story_sanctuary's review
5.0
I keep writing sentences that start with, “My favorite thing about this book…” and then I remember something else equally as awesome as the thing I was originally going to call my favorite.
I loved a LOT about this book. The characters are complex. Roberta, at fourteen, is just beginning to discover that she can admire and despise things about the same person. I loved that that lesson was repeated in her relationships with multiple characters in the story.
MALCOLM AND ME definitely challenged me. I feel like, at the beginning of the story, I wanted to doubt Roberta’s perceptions of things sometimes. Or offer more benefit of the doubt than she was comfortable offering. A couple of times I paused in my reading to think that through and made a conscious decision to listen to her story and see where it all went before making any judgments.
I feel like I grew as a reader, but I also think Roberta’s story was so rich and compelling that she would have pulled me along with her no matter what. But I know I really deeply loved the way MALCOLM AND ME explored relationships, particularly her relationship with the nun who used racist insults to humiliate her and with her father, who she learns has some troubling secrets.
Through all this, she continues to evaluate her faith in God– sometimes rejecting belief out of anger, other times being swallowed by her guilt, and still other times leaning into prayer and faith as a means of bringing her through dark moments.
She also connects things that happen to her to the life of Malcolm X, whose autobiography she has been reading. I thought it was really cool the way the story showed a progression in her thinking there, too. Sometimes she was drawn to the hardness of some of this words. At other times, she was drawn to the things he said later in his life, more about peace and treating white people as brothers.
Roberta’s confidence can’t help but be inspiring. Her commitment to think deeply and explore issues and her leadership definitely moved me. I loved this book. I want to see it in classrooms and community libraries, and I hope it inspires many conversations about race and history and faith. I absolutely recommend MALCOLM AND ME.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I loved a LOT about this book. The characters are complex. Roberta, at fourteen, is just beginning to discover that she can admire and despise things about the same person. I loved that that lesson was repeated in her relationships with multiple characters in the story.
MALCOLM AND ME definitely challenged me. I feel like, at the beginning of the story, I wanted to doubt Roberta’s perceptions of things sometimes. Or offer more benefit of the doubt than she was comfortable offering. A couple of times I paused in my reading to think that through and made a conscious decision to listen to her story and see where it all went before making any judgments.
I feel like I grew as a reader, but I also think Roberta’s story was so rich and compelling that she would have pulled me along with her no matter what. But I know I really deeply loved the way MALCOLM AND ME explored relationships, particularly her relationship with the nun who used racist insults to humiliate her and with her father, who she learns has some troubling secrets.
Through all this, she continues to evaluate her faith in God– sometimes rejecting belief out of anger, other times being swallowed by her guilt, and still other times leaning into prayer and faith as a means of bringing her through dark moments.
She also connects things that happen to her to the life of Malcolm X, whose autobiography she has been reading. I thought it was really cool the way the story showed a progression in her thinking there, too. Sometimes she was drawn to the hardness of some of this words. At other times, she was drawn to the things he said later in his life, more about peace and treating white people as brothers.
Roberta’s confidence can’t help but be inspiring. Her commitment to think deeply and explore issues and her leadership definitely moved me. I loved this book. I want to see it in classrooms and community libraries, and I hope it inspires many conversations about race and history and faith. I absolutely recommend MALCOLM AND ME.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
dai2daireader's review
4.0
When I see a debut book by an author from Philadelphia with a story based in Philadelphia… I’m all in (because it’s my hometown)!
This story is about Roberta Forest, a 13-year old black girl growing up in Philadelphia in 1973 during the post-civil rights era. Roberta is in the 8th grade, goes to a Catholic school, is very smart and enjoys writing poetry. She also enjoys reading her dad’s copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and she begins to question and analyze racial prejudice. She also questions her mom, her dad, her brother and her teacher (who she is basically at war with).
Roberta tends to see things in black and white, until she encounters some gray areas in her life. It was interesting to see how her relationship with various characters evolved throughout the story. Roberta went on a journey that felt true, authentic and refreshing. This book also showed the influence and impact reading can have in the lives of children. I really, really enjoyed this book!
This story is about Roberta Forest, a 13-year old black girl growing up in Philadelphia in 1973 during the post-civil rights era. Roberta is in the 8th grade, goes to a Catholic school, is very smart and enjoys writing poetry. She also enjoys reading her dad’s copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and she begins to question and analyze racial prejudice. She also questions her mom, her dad, her brother and her teacher (who she is basically at war with).
Roberta tends to see things in black and white, until she encounters some gray areas in her life. It was interesting to see how her relationship with various characters evolved throughout the story. Roberta went on a journey that felt true, authentic and refreshing. This book also showed the influence and impact reading can have in the lives of children. I really, really enjoyed this book!
lcarslibrarian's review
3.0
I liked this! I think the voice was a little muddled to me, sometimes reading as a 13 year old and sometimes older but not always fitting together.
But, I still think it's a good story about a girl standing up to racism and learning about the ways in which adults can fail kids. I do think Sister Elizabeth got off a little bit easy for the awful things she said....
But, I still think it's a good story about a girl standing up to racism and learning about the ways in which adults can fail kids. I do think Sister Elizabeth got off a little bit easy for the awful things she said....
stitchsaddiction's review
5.0
Malcolm and Me may well be set in 1973/74 but its subject matter is as relevant now as it would have been then. There is cultural issues, racism, displacement.. I could go on but I truly believe that this is a book that everyone should read at least once in their lives.
Robin Farmer's fiction is based on some factual events that happened to her and its that knowledge of how it must have felt to be a black teenager in seventies Philadelphia during the tenuous presidency of Richard Nixon that had me regularly reading out paragraphs of the book outloud to my husband.
I cannot for one second as a white female, imagine the way both the author and Roberta feels, nor can I fully understand what it must be like to be a person of colour living in America. But this book gave me a glimpse of how hard it must have been to be surrounded by people who cannot see past the colour of your skin.
Farmer's writing is phenomenal and there are incidents in the book that left me laughing, but there are so many more that left me thoughtful. Roberta is a rebellious teenager whose thoughts are expressed as poetry in her diary because voicing them causes increased confrontation. We witness a turning point in her life when during a class discussion, Roberta describes the third United States President, Thomas Jefferson as being a hypocrite because whilst stating all men are equal? Jefferson is a slave owner and slaves were seen as 3/4 of a person.
Her words cause discord and the nun who teaches Roberta's class reacts with a racist insult.
From there, Roberta's world falls apart and the heartbreaking story is brilliantly told from her perspective. She sees a similarity to her situation with those faced by the late Malcolm X when reading his autobiography and finds strength in his actions to stand up for what she sees as being right. That she be regarded as something more than the colour of her skin.
It is a conversation between Roberta and her father that reduced me to tears however and made me truly believe that this book should be in every school.
"Tell your class mates that the Panthers ten point program will be as meaningful fifty years from now, as it is today..."
"In fifty years, I'll be an old lady daddy, we won't need it" I say
"Let's hope not. As a betting man, those are odds I would not take."
Read Malcolm and Me, have your children read it to because this is a book that should be read by everybody.
Robin Farmer's fiction is based on some factual events that happened to her and its that knowledge of how it must have felt to be a black teenager in seventies Philadelphia during the tenuous presidency of Richard Nixon that had me regularly reading out paragraphs of the book outloud to my husband.
I cannot for one second as a white female, imagine the way both the author and Roberta feels, nor can I fully understand what it must be like to be a person of colour living in America. But this book gave me a glimpse of how hard it must have been to be surrounded by people who cannot see past the colour of your skin.
Farmer's writing is phenomenal and there are incidents in the book that left me laughing, but there are so many more that left me thoughtful. Roberta is a rebellious teenager whose thoughts are expressed as poetry in her diary because voicing them causes increased confrontation. We witness a turning point in her life when during a class discussion, Roberta describes the third United States President, Thomas Jefferson as being a hypocrite because whilst stating all men are equal? Jefferson is a slave owner and slaves were seen as 3/4 of a person.
Her words cause discord and the nun who teaches Roberta's class reacts with a racist insult.
From there, Roberta's world falls apart and the heartbreaking story is brilliantly told from her perspective. She sees a similarity to her situation with those faced by the late Malcolm X when reading his autobiography and finds strength in his actions to stand up for what she sees as being right. That she be regarded as something more than the colour of her skin.
It is a conversation between Roberta and her father that reduced me to tears however and made me truly believe that this book should be in every school.
"Tell your class mates that the Panthers ten point program will be as meaningful fifty years from now, as it is today..."
"In fifty years, I'll be an old lady daddy, we won't need it" I say
"Let's hope not. As a betting man, those are odds I would not take."
Read Malcolm and Me, have your children read it to because this is a book that should be read by everybody.
intorilex's review
5.0
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Roberta is a memorable young middle schooler, learning about herself, race and family. Throughout the book she reads Malcom X's autobiography, and deals with her parents tumultuous relationship. Since Roberta attends Catholic School has to grapple with how religion and God can intersect with how we see and deal with race. The great character development had me rooting for and believing in Roberta the entire time. She is a young talented writer who is learning to navigate her school and dealing with authority figures outside of the rules that her mother has taught her.
While Roberta deals with family conflict and pursues her writing she has to come to terms with how society and her school operates. The pacing and many levels to Roberta's development kept me interested and reading. The solid dialogue and nostalgic details, definitely makes me want to pick up more middle grade books in the future.
A thoughtful and thought provoking look into a young girls life that I know will resonate with everyone who reads it. If you enjoy contemporary story's that explore race, class and adolescence, you should definitely read this book.
Roberta is a memorable young middle schooler, learning about herself, race and family. Throughout the book she reads Malcom X's autobiography, and deals with her parents tumultuous relationship. Since Roberta attends Catholic School has to grapple with how religion and God can intersect with how we see and deal with race. The great character development had me rooting for and believing in Roberta the entire time. She is a young talented writer who is learning to navigate her school and dealing with authority figures outside of the rules that her mother has taught her.
While Roberta deals with family conflict and pursues her writing she has to come to terms with how society and her school operates. The pacing and many levels to Roberta's development kept me interested and reading. The solid dialogue and nostalgic details, definitely makes me want to pick up more middle grade books in the future.
A thoughtful and thought provoking look into a young girls life that I know will resonate with everyone who reads it. If you enjoy contemporary story's that explore race, class and adolescence, you should definitely read this book.
asola320's review
4.0
Free audible book for March. It was exactly what I expected it to be so I am satisfied. Interesting short autobiography of Reed and how Malcolm X helped shape the direction of his life.