Betty Before X

Betty Before X. Shabazz,  Ilyasah and Watons, Renée
January 2nd 2018 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
E ARC from Netgalley

In the 1940s, young Betty Dean is being raised by a beloved aunt who feels that Betty's mother didn't take good care of her. The mother has remarried, moved to Detroit, and had other young daughters. When her aunt dies, Betty is forced to leave her comfortable life in the south to be raised in a crowded apartment with her step sisters. She spends a lot of time at church and hanging out with her girlfriends. The girls are especially interested in the work of the Housewives' League, a Civil Rights organization that is trying to convince the black community that they should not shop at stores that would not hire them. When she has some fights with her mother, Betty is taken in by the Malloys, who go to her church and are very active in the civil rights movement, and she enjoys living with them very much. There are a lot of things going on in Chicago at this time, and Betty learns to be aware of the position of people in her community and is interested in all of the activists who visit and show her more of what is going on in the world.
Strengths: This is a great slice-of-life title for this time period, and we finally have a book from the point of view of a young black person instead of a Civil Rights story told through a white lens! The details of every day life AND of the social mores of the time are absolutely fascinating, and it's even better since this is a fictionalized account of Shabazz's mother, who late married Malcolm X. Watson's input makes this highly readable and engaging, and historical notes at the end remind readers that this story is based on real events. I especially liked the information about the boycotting by the black community of businesses who didn't hire black people. I had never heard to this!
Weaknesses: The cover is a bit young for a book that really should be read by middle school and even high school students. There is a scene of a lynching that might need to be processed with younger readers, who might be attracted to the pretty, sunny cover.
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, even though I find Malcom X to be a problematic historical figure. If you have Shabazz and Magoon's X, you should definitely read this!