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Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X Kindle Edition

by Elizabeth Acevedo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award!

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

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.

“Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.” —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation

“An incredibly potent debut.” —Jason Reynolds, author of the National Book Award Finalist Ghost

“Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.” —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street

This young adult novel, a selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List, is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in grades 6 to 8.

Plus don't miss Elizabeth Acevedo's With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land!

Print length

365 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Quill Tree Books
Publication date

March 6, 2018
Reading age

13 - 17 years
Grade level

8 - 9
File size

4230 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Not Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
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Popular Highlights in this book

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And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.
Highlighted by 2,235 Kindle readers
Just because your father’s present doesn’t mean he isn’t absent.
Highlighted by 1,927 Kindle readers
The world is almost peaceful when you stop trying to understand it.
Highlighted by 1,529 Kindle readers

From the Publisher


	The Poet X	With the Fire on High	Clap When You Land	Inheritance
Read all the books from bestselling, award-winning author and poet Elizabeth Acevedo!	Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award!	A dazzling novel about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright.	A novel-in-verse brimming with grief and love about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.	A treasured illustrated poem with full-color illustrations by artist Andrea Pippins

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—Magnificently crafted, Acevedo's bildungsroman in verse is a stunning account of a teen girl's path to poetry. Sophomore Xiomara Batista is simultaneously invisible and hyper visible at home, school, and in her largely Dominican community in Harlem—her body is "unhide-able" she tells readers early on, yet she bristles at how others project their desires, insecurities, failures, patriarchal attitudes toward her. Though she is quick to battle and defend herself and her twin brother Xavier, Xiomara's inner life sensitively grapples with these projections and the expectations of her strict, religious mother. Acevedo's depiction of a faith in crisis is exceedingly relatable and teens, especially those going through the sacrament of Confirmation, will deeply appreciate Xiomara's thoughtful questioning of the Church and how it treats women. Forbidden kisses with a crush and an impromptu performance at an open mic prove to be euphoric, affirming moments for Xiomara: "it's beautiful and real and what I wanted." Acevedo's poetry is skillfully and gorgeously crafted, each verse can be savored on its own, but together they create a portrait of a young poet sure to resonate with readers long after the book's end. VERDICT Truly a "lantern glowing in the dark" for aspiring poets everywhere. All YA collections will want to share and treasure this profoundly moving work.—Della Farrell, School Library Journal --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Elizabeth Acevedo is the author of The Poet X—which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award—as well as With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land. She is a National Poetry Slam champion and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo lives with her partner in Washington, DC. You can find out more about her at www.acevedowrites.com.

--This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

“The force and intensity behind her words practically pushes them off the page, resulting in a verse novel that is felt as much as it is heard. This is a book from the heart, and for the heart.” -- New York Times Book Review

“A story that will slam the power of poetry and love back into your heart.” -- Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak and Chains

“Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice. Every poem in this stunningly addictive and deliciously rhythmic verse novel begs to be read aloud. Xiomara is a protagonist who readers will cheer for at every turn. As X might say, Acevedo’s got bars. Don’t pass this one by.” -- Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation

“In The Poet X, Acevedo skillfully sculpts powerful, self-contained poems into a masterpiece of a story, and has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.” -- Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street

“Though vivid with detail about family, love, and culture, The Poet X is more of an exploration of when the poet becomes the poem... Acevedo delivers an incredibly potent debut.” -- Jason Reynolds, author of National Book Award Finalist Ghost

“A glorious achievement. This is a story about what it means to be a writer and how to survive when it feels like the whole world’s turned against you.” -- Daniel José Older, author of the Shadowshaper Cypher series

“A powerful, heartwarming tale of a girl not afraid to reach out and figure out her place in the world.” -- Booklist

★ “Themes as diverse as growing up first-generation American, Latinx culture, sizeism, music, burgeoning sexuality, and the power of the written and spoken word are all explored with nuance. Poignant and real, beautiful and intense.” -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “Debut novelist Acevedo’s free verse gives Xiomara’s coming-of-age story an undeniable pull, its emotionally charged bluntness reflecting her determination and strength. At its heart, this is a complex and sometimes painful exploration of love in its many forms, with Xiomara’s growing love for herself reigning supreme.” -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

★ “In nearly every poem, there is at least one universal truth about adolescence, family, gender, race, religion, or sexuality that will have readers either nodding in grateful acknowledgment or blinking away tears.” -- Horn Book (starred review) --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0727TNBDH
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quill Tree Books; Reprint edition (March 6, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 6, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4230 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 365 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #90,165 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 6,283 ratings

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Elizabeth Acevedo

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ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is the author of Clap When You Land, With the Fire on High and The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award, amongst many others. She is a National Poetry Slam champion and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo lives with her family in Washington, DC. You can find out more about her at www.acevedowrites.com.

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Aislynn

Heart of a Poet

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2023

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a fascinating and thought-provoking story, told entirely through snapshot poems, focusing on Xiomara Batista, a young girl from Harlem with an extraordinary talent for writing poetry. The novel explores themes of family, religion, love, and self-discovery. The author uses vivid descriptions and rich language to paint a vivid picture of Xiomara's world.

Acevedo's writing style is powerful and evocative. She uses sensory details and metaphors to create an immersive reading experience. The novel is filled with complex characters, each with their own unique motivations and struggles. Xiomara’s parents, for example, are portrayed as deeply flawed individuals struggling with their own issues. The author handles these complexities with nuance and empathy, making the characters feel real and relatable. I certainly resonated with Xiomara's frustration with her Mami not listening to her, with being forced to a religion she felt she'd outgrown, with having to hide the truth of who she is. All things I grew up with.

The Poet X is a coming-of-age journey of self-discovery that is inspiring and empowering, especially for young readers, and deals with issues such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. Overall, The Poet X is a wonderful novel that will leave a lasting impression on its readers. Recommended!

***Read for my enjoyment

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SunshineTiger13

Words that spill bright, bold, beautiful

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2023

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What an immersive read this was. Told almost entirely in verse, this story of rebellion, first love, finding your identity, revealing yourself to your family, and allowing others into your world via poetry had me on board with X from the very beginning. I loved it. Going to start reading Acevedo's other works immediately.

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Kevin L. Nenstiel

The Teenage Slam-Master of Manhattan Street Life

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021

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Fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista doesn’t share her words with anybody. Not her highly religious mother, who wouldn’t understand that she thinks in questions and doubts. Not her brother, who keeps some poorly concealed secrets of her own. Certainly not with the eager hop-heads around her Harlem neighborhood, who’ve noticed how attractive she’s become. No, she keeps her words locked inside a leather-bound journal. But even she is beginning to realize she needs to share with somebody.

It’s tempting to comb through Elizabeth Acevedo’s first novel for clues about exactly how autobiographical this story is. Much certainly jibes with Acevedo’s story: an Afro-Latina teen, raised by Dominican immigrant parents, who moves away from her childhood religion and embraces performance poetry at New York’s legendary Nuyorican Café. But as with most autobiographical fiction, that misses the point. It matters because it’s ultimately about us, and the struggles we and the author face together.

Xiomara collects her thoughts about Harlem life and adolescence in the journal her brother bought her. She never intended to create literature; her thoughts just coalesce into poetry. She desperately wants to live peacefully and be normal. But such desires don’t gel when she’s pulled between two poles: the working-class Manhattan which measures success in outcomes, even for teens, and her mother’s devout Catholicism, which manifests in an urgent desire to see Xiomara finish confirmation.

An English teacher at Xiomara’s high school is organizing a performance poetry club. Xiomara feels vaguely tempted. But meetings happen on Tuesday afternoons, directly opposite Confirmation Class, which Mamí explains is not optional. Poetry gives Xiomara some level of control which her working-class home life doesn’t allow. Still, throughout the fall semester of her sophomore year, she prefers to avoid conflict, and attends Confirmation with her BFF, even as she feels tension building up inside.

Acevedo, in creating Xiomara’s poetic voice, avoids the most common mistakes teenage poets make: the deliberate obscurantism of Shakespeareanism, or way-cool fake Beatnik patter. Xiomara instead has a natural, easy voice, one clearly designed for stage performance. Some of the poems which comprise this novel-in-verse have a hip-hop rhythm, and others resemble more a free-verse tide. But we never feel, as with some apprentice poets, like we’re reading a crossword puzzle clue that needs decoded.

Instead, as slam poets do, Xiomara simply invites audiences into her experience, which she’s heightened through poetry. Slam, if you’ve never participated, tends to reward personal confession and the tentative investigation of personal struggle. It also discourages pat answers, which this novel does too, never reaching for the simple moral often favored in schoolbook poetry. Like slam poets everywhere, Xiomara exposes personal struggles, baring her heart. She wouldn’t dare shut that book after opening it.

Her struggles will seem familiar to Acevedo’s teenage audience, or adults who’ve been teenagers. Xiomara’s parents have visions for her: her aggressive Mamí has scripted a religious homemaker life, while her more passive Papí wants… something, nobody knows what, since he never speaks up. Xiomara herself has the first glimmerings of interest in boys, an interest piqued when her biology lab partner, Aman (the symbolism is unsubtle), becomes the first non-relative to encourage her poetry.

So Xiomara performs her first and second acts of teenage rebellion: she starts seeing Aman on the sly, while ditching Confirmation Class to attend poetry club. That’s two activities which violate her mother’s tightly written script. We know trouble is brewing, but Xiomara starts discovering some components of her own identity. As anybody who’s ever passed through teenage rebellion already knows, Mamí will eventually discover Xiomara’s hastily organized ruses. It’s only a matter of time.

By writing in poetry, Acevedo permits Xiomara to speak from the heart. No time spent describing physical environment or other characters’ facial expressions, unless she wants to; instead, Xiomara cuts directly to the emotional freight of each moment and each encounter. That’s what poetry does, or anyway should do: it strips off everything except what matters, here and now, turning every experience into the purest form of language to convey what’s happening, inside, right now.

Sadly, this verse novel probably deals too directly with controversial topics for actual classroom use: public schools are notoriously conflict-averse. It also has some intermittent PG-13-rated language and mild adolescent sexuality. But for home study and for ambitious readers, Acevedo has created a story that teenagers, and their parents, will find wholly relatable. I’d recommend pairing it with Walter Dean Myers’ Monster, which deals with similar themes and settings. Strongly recommended for bold, independent-minded teens.

8 people found this helpful

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April Maida

Moving

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2023

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This book was powerful and moving. I empathized with X’s rebellion, I do not feel she was wrong. Perseverance prevailed! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2023

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I real enjoy this book

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Jane

Excellent engaging book for non readers

Reviewed in Canada on November 23, 2022

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My granddaughter 13 put down her iPad to read this engaging book! Loved it!

Roberto Tronkin

Eccellente

Reviewed in Italy on March 26, 2023

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Fantastico

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Yamil Narchi

Great

Reviewed in Mexico on December 25, 2020

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A surprising, exciting coming of age novel made out of poems that are meant to be delivered out loud. So... you imagine the delivery. A testimony of dignity and youth. Loved it.

Richardi Lilly Aurea

✨

Reviewed in Germany on March 9, 2021

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such a beautiful and empowering story.
i just love reading Elizabeth Acevedos’ books in verse.
so touching it made me cry multiple times because it’s written in an incredibly emotional way and illustrates social issues very well

Luísa Fajardo

Uma escrita que toca, feita pra ser ouvida

Reviewed in Brazil on January 9, 2019

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Ouvi o audiobook em inglês desse livro pelo scribd enquanto acompanhava pelo e-book e totalmente me apaixonei. A escrita de Elizabeth Acevedo carrega força, e sua narração potencializa essa força. A história de Xiomara me lembrou as histórias da Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As duas autoras escrevem sobre a dor, sobre o silenciamento, sobre o fortalecimento e sobre o amor de forma única e bela. The Poet X é um livro singular que retrata os percalços de uma garota descobrindo suas potencialidades mas que tem sua liberdade e descoberta privadas desde sempre. Dificilmente alguma mulher não se sentiu assim em algum momento da vida.

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