Poet X

$13.00$16.00

by Elizabeth Acevedo 

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.

SPANISH TRANSLATION

Xiomara Batista se siente ignorada e incapaz de ocultarse en Harlem. Desde que su cuerpo se volvió curvilíneo, aprendió a dejar que sus puños y su rudeza hablaran por ella. Pero X tiene mucho para decir, por eso descarga su frustración en las páginas de un cuaderno y recita las palabras para sí misma como si fueran plegarias, especialmente después de verse invadida por fuertes sentimientos hacia un chico de la clase de Biología. Ante la determinación de «mami» de forzarla a obedecer las leyes de la iglesia, X comprende que es mejor guardarse sus pensamientos. Cuando la invitan a unirse al club de poesía slam de su escuela, sabe que no podrá hacerlo y mucho menos decir sus palabras en voz alta, a no ser que logre evadir las reglas de mami. Pero aun así no puede dejar de pensar en interpretar sus poemas frente a un público. En alzar su voz. Porque, a pesar de que el mundo no quiera escucharla, Xiomara se niega a permanecer en silencio.

Available in English, Spanish, and IBD Exclusive!

Ages 13 and up
Paperback | 384 pages (English) 352 pages (Spanish) | Puck | 2019
Hardcover | 378 pages (IBD) | Quill Tree Books | 2023

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