The Poet X

Today's post is on The Poet X by ERlizabeth Acevedo. It is 268 pages long and is published by HarperTeen. The cover is a colorful one with the main character in the corner with the title in her hair. The intended reader is someone who likes books in verse and teens learning to find their voices. There is some foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book-  young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Review- A moving story about a young woman finding her voice and dealing with all that brings to her life. Xiomara is the quiet one who talks with her fists and has more doubts than her mother thinks she should. She is growing in her body and dealing with the attention that beings. She is a young woman who just wants to be heard by those around her. The poems are interesting, the style is engaging, and story is full of character and details. I was very moved by the relationship between Xiomara and her mother; it is very honest, it is difficult, and is at times hard to read because I think that most teen girls have a similar relationship with their mothers to some degree or another. I would highly recommend this book.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I was given this book as a gift.