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Best Books for Kids » Prizewinning Books

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
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The Poet X

by Elizabeth Acevedo

*** Winner of the 2019 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature***
***Winner of the 2019 Carnegie Medal***

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo has also won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the Pura Belpré Award, which celebrates a “Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.”

It’s about a girl (with a twin brother) coming of age in Harlem in New York City. Her mum is religious and would have preferred to be a nun. “If Medusa was Dominican and had a daughter, I think I’d be her,” says the narrator, Xiomara, who eventually finds herself through poetry and the support of an inspiring teacher. 

Commentary

“The story begins in Part 1 – ‘In the Beginning Was the Word’. During this first section the reader becomes accustomed to the unusual style of poetry mixed with novel writing; I personally found it grew on me and at many points felt easier and more natural than a normal novel. These poems are supposedly Xiomara’s diary entries which detail her day-to-day experiences.”

Eben Roddis, Young Poets Network, May 2018

Other books by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land
by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High
by Elizabeth Acevedo

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