Parents' Guide to

Betty Before X

By Darienne Stewart, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Inspiring, intimate story of activist's early years.

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Kids say (3):

In this moving portrait, Betty Shabazz's daughter shows how courage, resilience, and strength can blossom during a critical period of childhood -- and how those experiences can help shape a movement. Readers don't need to know about Malcolm X's life and legacy to appreciate Betty Before X, which is really about a girl learning to appreciate her own self-worth in a world where her mother's love seems unattainable and her skin color is viewed with disdain outside her close-knit community.

Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson vividly portray a unique time and place that helped forge Betty as a leader with a firm commitment to raising children with love, supporting women and families, and standing strong for justice and dignity. Young Betty's nervousness as she learns to speak up for her values makes her especially relatable to readers at an age when their possible future selves are beginning to come into focus.

Book Details

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