Rating: 3/5

What It’s About:

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. But she still 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.

Goodreads

What I liked

The Poet X is the third book by Elizabeth Acevedo that I’ve read. And they have all been wonderful books. I loved reading this book because it was a nice change of pace after reading two long books in a row. Since The Poet X is written in verse, it was a fast read and I finished it in about 2 days. The main character, Xiomara was interesting and I enjoyed seeing all the different conflicts that she encountered. There were many poems that were so compelling and I could really feel the raw emotions that Xiomara was feeling. I could relate to alot of what Xiomara was going through. It reminded me so much of growing up during my teen years. This book covers several topics that I think many teens could relate to such as:

• puberty and sexuality
• first loves and/or relationships
• dealing with the rules and expectations of parents
• navigating relationships with siblings, parents, and peers
• religious beliefs
• the need to express oneself
• developing skills and taking risks to pursue a passion

What I didn’t like

I liked mostly everything about this book. The only drawback for me was that I wanted to know more about the side characters. The little backstory and character development that we got of Xiomara’s mom and brother had me wanting more! I would have liked to experience more of their stories but it would probably be hard to do this with a novel in verse.

Final Thoughts

I had an excellent time reading The Poet X. It has lots elements that would make this book appealing to many readers. Readers who enjoy stories about Latina characters, coming of age experiences, novels in verse, and slam poetry would probably have a good experience reading this one. I’m sure the audiobook format would be even more amazing!

Have you read this book? I’d love to hear what you thought.