The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X is a coming of age novel in the truest sense. Told in verse, Elizabeth Acevedo captures the intense emotions associated with a time in your life where everything is changing and nothing feels like it used to. Xiomara, an Afro-Latinx girl living in New York, is the opposite of an open book. She keeps her emotions locked down as she contends with her absent father, religious mother, and bookish twin, all while wrestling with young love, sexual harassment, and the thrilling, terrifying idea of joining a slam poetry group, where she'd have to share the things she keeps closest to her heart. This was such a great read, and well deserving of the hype I've heard surrounding it in the YA community. I recognized my students in The Poet X and her friends, and I can't wait to add this to my classroom library.