So, confession. Sometimes when I choose (hoard) books from NetGalley and Edelweiss I don't read the descriptions very thoroughly. Often I (gasp) choose a book by it's cover or author or whatever. Sometimes it comes back to bite me - I don't realize it's a sequel or it is too mature for my audience. Sometimes by the time I actually read it (because I hoard some of them for months before I get to them) I forget what they were going to be about. Case in point - Betty Before X. I read the whole book and really enjoyed it and it wasn't until I read the afterward that I realized that the X was Malcolm X and this was the story of his wife Betty when she was a child - before X. Oh.....
This book is a fictionalized account of Betty's young life. Her birth in the south, her upbringing away from a young, abusive mother, and early exposure to racial tension. Then it follows her to Detroit where she lived with her mother's new family for awhile and then moves in with another couple. It tells of her growing awareness of social justice and the fight for equality and freedom.
I thought the book was well done. It shows a girl's struggle to understand her surrounding, to find love and purpose, to count her blessings in the midst of struggle, and to keep on.
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