Poet X

Poet X was a fantastic novel. It has been a while since I have read a book consisting only of poems, but the style choose really helped us as readers understand the perspective of the main character, Xiomara. X is going through a coming of age journey. She is unsure of her religious identity as well as how that will affect her relationship with her family. There are a lot of feelings that X is feeling and she has a hard time of expressing them except in the form of anger. (Acevedo, 2018)

(Goodreads, 2018)

About Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo is a well renown author. She is know for her work portraying the Latinx community and creating strong female characters. She won the Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction and many more awards.

(Goodreads, 2018)

Critical Evaluation

The book hits a lot of topics that young adults struggle with. I was able to relate to X in a lot of ways but from my own perspective. X really starts to struggle with religion and how that religion affects her family life. As someone who was raised extremely religious and later in life decided to leave my religion, I can relate to how X feels in worrying about disappointing her mom and her family members. I would highly recommend this book. I foresee myself going back and reading certain poems because the word truly do sink deep. This is the first time I have heard about this novel. I work with teen at the public library, but they are really big into graphic novels. I have seen the book on teen lists but didn’t even add it to my “to be read” list. I am disappointed, but also grateful for this class for giving me the opportunity to read it.

Creative use for Libraries

Slam poetry! This is such a fun thing to do with teens, as long as they are willing to cooperate. Teens are learning how to deal with their strong feeling and this is a way for them to let them all out. Slam poetry is a lot like rapping, which is how the library could entice teens to give it a try. Reading some passages from Poet X would be a great way to show how to express emotions and what that looks like in the form of poetry.

Speed-Round Book Talk

Do you ever feel like you have so many emotions packed into you body and no outlet for them all? Well Xiomara in PoetX by Elizabeth Acevedo feels that way and expressed her feeling through poems. The book is a compilation of poems in chronological order that tell the story of X and her find who she truly is.

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation

As I mentioned above, this book hits many difficult topics that teens may struggle with and therefore could relate to. The book discussed religious contention, sexual harassment, coming of age, family pressure, how to cope with strong emotions, and becoming someone you are proud to be. Although these may be difficult topics, they are one that teens can read about and relate to with the main character, Xiomara. If I were to tell teens about this book, I would explain how this book helps you learn that the words you say have power. I would share the quote ““I only know that learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. And isn't that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.”(Acevedo, 2018)

Reason for Inclusion

This book has won several awards and nominations. This book may is used in several school setting and has many life lessons that teens can learn from.

References

Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X. HarperTeen.

Goodreads. (2018, March 6). The poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Goodreads. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x

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