Savvy's Reviews
Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!
The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand the world around her and her relationship to it. 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 until she discovers her own voice.
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 speaking 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.
Oh gosh… where to begin!!! This verse novel is uniquely relatable, heart wrenching, real, honest, provocative, raw and beautiful. I have to say that listening to this book via audiobook might be the only way to go. Hearing Acevedo bringing her words into the world and giving them so much life was truly captivating.
There is a battle going on within these pages centered around the difference between loyalty to family and loyalty to one’s self. This amazing novel is all about becoming who you really are and who you are really meant to be. It’s not only a coming of age novel but a becoming of self expedition.
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