Robin Farmer has written a powerful YA debut centering 13-year-old Roberta who is grappling with race, faith, family and growing up. Although historical fiction set in the ‘70s, this is a coming of age story for our current moment.
Read full review on Ms. Magazine.
Malcom and Me by Robin Farmer is an evocative coming of age story set against the backdrop of the Watergate era. When 13-year-old Roberta is told she’s ineligible to compete in an essay contest at school, she responds with an outrage that speaks both to her frustration surrounding her parents’ crumbling marriage and her growing interest in activism in this novel about the messy process of growing up.
Read full review on Popsugar.
This is one of those books that can work as a window for those that don’t know these experiences, like me. But it also offers representation that still needs work in the middle grade realm of literature. Roberta’s voice was one of the strongest aspects of this book. She’s only 13, but she’s not afraid to stand up for her beliefs and to call people out when their behavior is problematic. We need more people like her in the world.
As a character reader, I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. Not only was Roberta well fleshed out, but we get to see rounded side characters too, especially Roberta’s family. Though she clashes with her mom a lot, there’s a lot of growing that happens there. It felt so realistic and natural, which isn’t always the case in middle grade books.
The story is engaging and the writing overall is really well done. While at times, the story feels a little slow, there are a lot of great reasons to pick this one up. Roberta can be an inspiration to anyone who reads this book.
Read full review on Between the Shelves.
Rebel teen Roberta Forest – a smart poet who is black and Catholic – is questioning God
and the adults in her life. She’s finding solace in writing poetry and reading about Malcolm X, but when she becomes ineligible to enter the school essay contest, she explodes. A confrontation with her mother will expose some family secrets Roberta may not be ready for. Gritty and graceful, Malcolm and Me is a coming-of-age story about family, faith and what it means to forgive.
Read full review on Bookster.
In the opening scene of Robin Farmer’s debut young adult novel, “Malcolm and Me,” Roberta Forest is in a class at the Catholic school she attends. The teacher, a nun, asks how Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence when, at the time, he held slaves. Roberta’s answer? Jefferson was a hypocrite.
“Malcolm and Me” by Robin Farmer debuts Nov. 17, 2020.
The year is 1973, and the nun responds to Roberta by telling her to get on a boat and go back to Africa. A fight ensues, and Roberta is suspended.
Although the incident opens a work of fiction, it actually happened to an 11-year-old Farmer. “I thought what I was saying was the correct thing,” she says. “I wasn’t trying to be a show pony or a smartass.”
Read full review on Richmond Magazine.
