Review: The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book! Two of the student's I tutor were assigned this book for summer reading, so I decided to read it to be able to have a real discussion with each of them about it. I thought it would be completely non-relatable. I thought I was just doing a good deed. Boy, I was wrong.

Acevedo's pen is powerful. She is slapping you around with words from start to finish and it is too emotionally heroic to turn away from. It was a book I experienced physically; I was spent by the time I finished.

It is not enough to say that this is about a misunderstood high school student who is in love and who lives in a poor NYC neighborhood with strict, religious parents. This is true, but it does not do the drama justice at all. Acevedo cuts deep with her words and they were sharp enough to slice through decades and remind me of those years when it is so difficult to find my own voice and then to use it to be heard, really heard .

Young people will love this book. However, anyone who can remember being young, who can remember feeling lost, and who fought to find and use their voice will love this book.



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