The Poet X: A Classic Young Adult Novel in Verse (Ages 13+)
This young adult novel in verse follows Xiomara, a Dominican American girl in Harlem, as poetry helps her face family, faith, desire, and the scrutiny placed on her body. The verse form itself becomes the medium through which a girl who feels unheard claims her voice.
Work Information
A young adult novel where writing poems becomes a way to reclaim one's voice.
The Poet X tells the story of Xiomara, who feels constrained by a strict household and the gaze of the street, and who finds her own language through poems written in a notebook and through slam poetry. The Japanese edition was published by Shogakukan as 詩人になりたいわたしX.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Quill Tree Books
- Published
- 2018-03-06
- Pages
- 368 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.97 x 2.97 x 20.96 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780062662804
- ISBN-10
- 0062662805
- Price
- 3454 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Teen & Young Adult
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
Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times -bestselling 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 Carnegie Medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High ―which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly , and School Library Journal ―and Clap When You Land , which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus Prize finalist. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem and Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC, with her family.
Reviews
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素晴らしい良書
非常に面白かったです。
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Uma escrita que toca, feita pra ser ouvida
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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Great
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.
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Poet x
Todo correcto, edición sencilla y humilde perfecta para el uso que se va dar:la lectura recomendada del cole
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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
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Quick. Powerful. Meaningful.
Have you ever read a book and literally read every single word? And focus on every single word? Maybe you have, but I haven’t. I read really fast, I mean, fast, and so I go through words like... Pop Rocks. You don’t just eat one Pop Rocks piece at a time, you pour the package into your mouth and get the experience that way. I take in full sentences like that, not word over word, but full sentences at a glance. It’s really hard to explain. I understand everything I read, with amazing clarity but I’ve never focused in, really looked at the words used in every single sentence in a book until The Poet X. Of course I’ve analyzed literature and poetry for school work, and I read words out loud of course, but if I think about words on the page, The Poet X, made me think about the economy of words, and the precision with which to use them. The whole book is poetry, told in narrative, about Xiomara, a Dominican girl growing up in a strict home, trying to find her voice. She uses this book as her journal so readers gain insight to her as she writes her feelings down about her family, religion, growing up, boys, and poetry. Acevedo has a powerful way of expressing the thoughts and feelings of a girl growing up in a stifling home. Of a girl growing up in a body she has no control over. She’s got so many powerful poems in this book. My favorite is “Unhide-able” because Xiomara is trying to come to terms with her body in a house that wants her to cover up her body, in a neighbor that wants to catcall her body, in a generation that wants to speak out about her body and the jealousy that comes along with it. She writes: “I am I unhide-able. Taller than even my father, with what Mami has always said / was “a little too much body for such a young girl.” / I am the baby fat that settles into D cups and swinging hips / so that the boys who called me a whale in middle school / now ask me to send them pictures of myself in a thong. The other girls call me conceited. Ho. Thot. Fast. / When your body takes up more room then your voice / you are always the target of well-aimed rumors, / which is why I let my knuckles talk for me. / Which is why I learned to shrug when I name was replaced by insults. I’ve forced my skin just as thick as I am” (7). So many women go through this same thing. So many teenagers and women alike just have to take this kind of criticism and this kind of rumor gossip mill stuff and Xio captures it perfectly here in this one poem. Xio learns to shrug the gossip off, like many of us do, but at 16 --- what kind of message is she internalizing? At the climax of the book, Xio writes, “The world is almost peaceful / when you stop trying / to understand it” (223). It’s so powerful, right? Acevedo has such a gift for language. If you’ve never heard any of her actual spoken word, please do yourself a favor and go now. She’s so amazing. The story Acevedo weaves through her poetry is one about self acceptance more than anything but it takes a huge family detonation to come about. That hit home for me. I think it does for a lot of people. It’s so relatable and honest. It’s hard to find out what we’re meant to be when we aren’t allowed to be ourselves, right? I think Acevedo captures that so well in this book. Do yourselves a favor. Get this book. Binge it. You’ll thank me.