Review: The Poet X

Title: The Poet X
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Digital ARC via Edelweiss


Summary: A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Review: The writing in this book is phenomenal. Acevedo paints rich pictures with her words. They are not only detailed and vivid, but they also include the emotions of the scenes. With very few words, readers are brought into the world and mind of Xiomara.

In her home, school and community, Xiomara uses her knuckles to talk. People see her body, but don't see who she is and they don't listen to her voice to discover anything more. She finds this true even in the church which is a large part of her life because her mother is devoted to God. In church, Xiomara says that her worth is under her skirt. On top of that, she thinks that listening to the commandments shuts down her voice.

Where Xiomara finds her voice is in her writing. She begins to feel heard through her poetry. Spoken word poetry opens up her world. 

As she's working out who she is and who she wants to be, Xiomara gets into serious conflict with her mother. Theirs is a complicated relationship. Her mother wants what is best for Xiomara, but their ideas of what is best are very different. They exchange some harsh words and actions, but figuring out their relationship is a crucial part of Xiomara's growth.

There are many important relationships in the book. Xiomara's twin is also dealing with his own issues. They are there for each other sometimes, but they also disappoint each other. Aman is a bright spot in Xiomara's life and sees her beauty, but isn't blinded by it. He wants to know her. They also have struggles though.

Recommendation: Get this soon especially if you love poetry. Xiomara's story is well suited to the format. Hers is a wonderful story of identity, family, faith and love.

Review: The Red Pencil

Title: The Red Pencil
Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 336
Review Copy: Digital ARC via NetGalley
Availability: On shelves now

Summary: "Amira, look at me," Muma insists. She collects both my hands in hers."The Janjaweed attack without warning. If ever they come-- run."

Finally, Amira is twelve. Old enough to wear a toob, old enough for new responsibilities. And maybe old enough to go to school in Nyala-- Amira's one true dream. But life in her peaceful Sudanese village is shattered when the Janjaweed arrive. The terrifying attackers ravage the town and unleash unspeakable horrors. After she loses nearly everything, Amira needs to dig deep within herself to find the strength to make the long journey-- on foot-- to safety at a refugee camp. Her days are tough at the camp, until the gift of a simple red pencil opens her mind-- and all kinds of possibilities.

Review: In May of this year, I was fortunate enough to attend the 2014 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture "Rejoice the Legacy" presented by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Her presentation was inspiring and all kinds of fabulous. You can watch it below. As part of the lecture, she introduced her newest book, The Red Pencil. 

Andrea Davis Pinkney is a gifted storyteller and just as she explained in the lecture, she managed to share both the beauty and the plight of the people of Sudan through this book. It's a middle grade book, so the use of free verse poetry was one way that Pinkney shared the violence, but also sheltered the readers from some of it. Readers will clearly see the death and devastation, but the spare words keep it from being overwhelming. Careful readers will still see enough details to know that the situation is horrific and not one anybody would wish on others.

Pinkney begins the story before tragedy comes to Amira's family. We see the powerful love in her family. We also see that their way of life has many strengths. There are a few challenges too, which include the resistance of Amira's mother to the idea of schooling for girls. My favorite part of the book is the game What Else is Possible? that Amira and her father play. Her father explains why they have this game:

He says,
"Worrying, that is a waste of time.
Better to ask, 'What else is possible?'"

When worrying about something, instead of focusing on the horrible outcomes that are possible, they guess only positive answers to the question. Amira says it this way:

What Else is Possible?
is a game about looking at things
in shiny ways.

I read this book three months ago, but didn't review it at the time. More than anything else, this game stuck with me. This ability to look for the possibilities is one of the strengths that sustains Amira. Of course, she also has her creativity with art and words. From the beginning we see that Amira creates pictures with her stick and with her words. Creating pictures in the sand comes as naturally to her as breathing. Along with her family, drawing is her joy. She also has a gift with words. She plays with them and has a unique voice. I love her descriptions like this one about her friend's mother:

Words flap from her
like giddy chickens escaping their pen.

The Red Pencil will be a book that I will be sharing enthusiastically with teachers and students. It allows us to see a young girl and her resilience in the face of heart-breaking circumstances. It also provides us with a window to another part of the world.

Extras:
Audio snippet - Andrea Davis Pinkney reading a few poems from the book

Educator's Guide

(comments about The Red Pencil begin at 1:16:54)

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Jen & Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts host a meme every Monday that invites people to share the children's and young adult books they have been reading over the past week and what they plan on reading the following week.

You may find more complete information about what I am reading at Goodreads.com or by clicking on the Goodreads widget along the side of my blog.

The Past Week

Newbery Challenge - No progress. Ack!

Caldecott Challenge

Duffy and the Devil is a Rumplestiltskin story and it made me giggle. The pictures didn't wow me though. I thought they were unique, but not out of this world.

Picture Book

I finally got my hands on Laurel Snyder's Good night, laila tov. I had meant to read that awhile ago after we had a wonderful Skype visit with her in the spring, but my list of books just gets out of hand and I forget at least half of what I mean to read. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it for bedtime - or anytime really.

Non-Fiction

Just Being Audrey was wonderful. I have read a few adult biographies of Audrey Hepburn and so finding this book made me smile. Reading it made my smile grow even bigger. I love the illustrations! The text informed and shared her light, but my only complaint is that I wanted more information. That is the difficulty of picture biographies though.

Novel/ Printz Honor

For NaNoWriMo, I am writing a story with two narrators. One is telling her story in verse. So, I have a stack of books in my house that are of the Novel-in-Verse variety. Keesha's House was a re-read for me and I loved it again. Helen Frost does such a fabulous job of making poetry speak volumes. In few words, her characters manage to express so much. On top of it, she also uses a wide variety of poetry forms in her books. This one had sonnets and sestinas. She includes the rules for those forms at the end.

I didn't read any lengthy books this week, but otherwise, it was an excellent week of reading. Many books brought a smile to my face and several made me really think. 

For the Coming Week: I am having a hard time getting many pages read while I am working on NaNoWriMo so novels-in-verse are just the thing. I will continue to read through Thanksgiving books critically each day and will try to start M.C. Higgins the Great for the Newbery Challenge. I am not sure that I will get to much else though I want to start Malcolm at Midnight soon. We will see what I can fit into my very busy life.