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.

Shadow of the West by Sarah Brotherhood Chapman

 

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Books about the Cold War have been my favorite for years. Very little is written about it for teens. They know almost nothing. I jumped at the chance to read this book so I could get it into the hands of my students. We have Kate who is. and American. As the daughter of a diplomat she moves a lot. This time they are in West Berlin. She meets Amy, whose father is a diplomat stationed on the east side of Berlin. Amy spends a lot of time at Kate’s house.  Kate goes to visit Amy and meets Michael. Michael and his sister are barely surviving on the east side. Of course Kate and Michael meet. This is dangerous for Michael and his sister as the Stasi watch everything.

I enjoyed this book because the author is the daughter of a diplomat who had similar experiences to that of Kate.  I enjoyed this also because I worked with two teachers and taught their daughter. They would tell me stories of living in embassies around the world, especially Russia.  Their daughter at times was clueless as to how things actually worked in those countries because they were sheltered from a lot of the things people in those country went through, all because they were a diplomat’s child.  I highly recommend this book. I believe it should be on every high school shelf.   I won a copy from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Giveaway.

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby

 

Genre:  Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Source:  I purchased a copy

I love reading books set in the time period of WWII.  Then you add in a young girl named Frankie and a ghost named Pearl, whose stories alternate and you have the setup for a great book. The thing that really sets this book apart from so many other of this time period is the difference between the treatment of males and females.  There are so many things a female is expected to do just because of her gender. Yet we have a story here to show how strong the female can be and how they rise above the expectations for the time period. We also look at the difference in treatment between those who have money and those who do not.

Frankie is living in an orphanage. The story takes place in America. This surprised me because I figured as a World War 2 book it would have taken place in Europe. However, this was a refreshing detail. Frankie, her sister and brother all live in an orphanage because their mother is dead and their father can’t afford to take care of them.  I got angry at the fact that their father meets another woman, whose children are also in the orphanage, and they get married. The marriage wasn’t the issue. It was the fact their father was moving out west and taking his new wife and her children and their brother with them. The only reason the brother went was because he had aged out of the orphanage. Another unique aspect of this orphanage was the way they separated the boys and girls. Girls were required to take care of the dinner dishes from the boy’s side, but not allowed to talk or acknowledge them without repercussions.  Some of the nuns came across as just looney or sadistic.  The storyline is engaging and kept me reading.  A bonus for me was learning that this is based on the true life story of the author’s Mother-in law.  A strange book, yet engaging. I will say it was difficult in the very beginning to keep the two perspectives straight. If you stick with it, which I say you should, you will soon find yourself so invested you can’t stop reading it.  So glad to have read and recommend this book.