The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

Genre: Young Adult, Novel in Verse
Source: I own a copy

This was an excellent book.  Xiomara and her twin are opposites. Their mother favors "Twin", Xiomara's brother. He goes to a school for the gifted.  Xiomara has spent her entire life looking out for her brother, fighting his battles for him.  How do you survive when it seems no one knows you exist?  you write poetry.  Xiomara's mother speaks limited English. To make matters worse, she never wanted to get married, she wanted to be a nun. This makes life more difficult for Xiomara. She is required to go to confirmation classes. She isn't even sure what she believes about God. She  has ignored the boys who like to make comments about her larger, curvy body.  Aman is the first boy she has given any attention to. But she isn't allowed to do anything except go to church.  She learns about performance poetry from her English teacher, who sees something special in her. She avoids the invitations to join the poetry club because it doesn't fall into line with her mom's church life.  But just because her mom wouldn't agree doesn't mean that she can't write poetry. That is what she does until  her mom takes that away. Something breaks inside and it will take someone her mother trusts to help mend their family.  

I love this book.  I would recommend it to high school students because of some of the more mature themes.