by Matt Doeden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2013
A brief but impressively insightful and engaging overview of the life and assassination of Malcolm X.
A vivid chronicle of Malcolm X’s life and untimely death.
Few people were shocked when Malcolm X was gunned down by assassins in 1965. The 39-year-old former Nation of Islam member and civil rights leader was a lightning rod for controversy. The first half of Doeden’s biography explains how Malcolm Little’s distrust of white America was sown in his youth, how his imprisonment as a young man led to a path of self-education and spiritual seeking, and how the Nation of Islam provided him with an outlet for his resentment. A gifted, charismatic speaker, he rose to prominence as a civil rights leader who championed Black Power and offered an alternative to people dissatisfied with Martin Luther King’s approach of nonviolent resistance. Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca prompted in him a major philosophical shift that resulted in public feuding with the Nation of Islam and its leaders. Doeden thoroughly explores in the second half of the book the circumstances of Malcolm’s assassination, the trial and conviction of the killers, and the rumors of conspiracies and coverups that persist.
A brief but impressively insightful and engaging overview of the life and assassination of Malcolm X. (photographs, timeline, glossary, source notes, suggestions for further reading) (Biography. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7613-5484-0
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
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by Matt Doeden
BOOK REVIEW
by Matt Doeden
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by Matt Doeden
by Chella Man ; illustrated by Chella Man & Ashley Lukashevsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2021
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author.
Deaf, trans artist Man meditates on his journey and identity in this brief memoir.
Growing up in conservative central Pennsylvania was tough for the 21-year-old Deaf, genderqueer, pansexual, and biracial (Chinese/White Jewish) author. He describes his gender and sexual identity, his experiences of racism and ableism, and his desire to use his visibility as a YouTube personality, model, and actor to help other young people like him. He is open and vulnerable throughout, even choosing to reveal his birth name. Man shares his experiences of becoming deaf as a small child and at times feeling ostracized from the Deaf community but not how he arrived at his current Deaf identity. His description of his gender-identity development occasionally slips into a well-worn pink-and-blue binary. The text is accompanied and transcended by the author’s own intriguing, expressionistic line drawings. However, Man ultimately falls short of truly insightful reflection or analysis, offering a mostly surface-level account of his life that will likely not be compelling to readers who are not already fans. While his visibility and success as someone whose life represents multiple marginalized identities are valuable in themselves, this heartfelt personal chronicle would have benefited from deeper introspection.
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-22348-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by George Takei & Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott ; illustrated by Harmony Becker ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2019
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
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A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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