Xiomara (X) is a poet. She writes poems daily in her notebook, writing about her life. When she discovers slam poetry, it changes her world.

Summary

X also has secrets: she can’t tell her mother about the boy she likes, or the fact that her brother, whom she calls Twin, is gay. X also keeps her notebook hidden from her mother, who can’t know about her life in general. But when Mami finds her precious notebook and destroys it, Xiomara’s devastated. X must find a way to show her mother that her poems are inside of her, not just where she’s written her poems on the page.

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Thoughts

I loved this book. The Poet X is a fantastic read, chock-full of personal poems read by Elizabeth Acevedo herself, if you listen to the audiobook version.

Listening and reading Acevedo’s poetry drew me into Xiomara’s life. I enjoyed learning about her passion for words, for documenting her life through her poems. (As a teenager, I too would write poems, but they weren’t always about my life. They were from different protagonists.)

Poetry is a perfect way to express yourself, which is exactly what X does. She also learns that, even if her words are physically destroyed, her words live on inside of her. Xiomara’s poems cannot be destroyed, for they live on in her mind and her heart.

If you love reading poetry, The Poet X is for you.

If you’ve already read this book, I highly recommend the rest of Elizabeth Acevedo’s novels, like Clap When You Land.