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In Assignments on
August 13, 2023

The Poet X

Side by side images of the author and her book. First the Poet X pays on a furry white rug with a house plant next to it. the second is a waist-up portrait of Elizabeth Acevedo outside in a button up denim shirt over top a white tee-shirt, curls popping in all their glory.

As an Elizabeth Acevedo stan, if she writes it, I read it. After reading Elizabeth Acevedo’s Clap When You Land, I became obsessed and had to read everything I could by the author. That led me to this book. This book, The Poet X, comes off as autobiographical and coming of age. It dealt with some heavy topics that teens have to navigate. It was relatable. I loved it!

Summary

The Poet X is the coming-of-age story of Xiomara (pronounced zee-o-mara) Batista, an Afro-Latina, spoken-word poet from Harlem, and her shy, sensitive twin brother. 

Xiomara finds herself at the center of nasty rumors that she has done nothing to deserve but develop into womanhood on God’s timing. Her development is the source of her teenage angst.

And so she fights.

She fights for her sensitive twin brother. 

She fights for herself.

The Batista twins both hold secrets and look forward to the day they can break free of them. It’s about the complex worlds of teenagers and the adults in their lives (parents and teachers) who just don’t understand.

Xiomara’s devout, conservative Catholic mother’s primary goal is to preserve her daughter’s virtue — even to the detriment of her daughter’s mental health and self-image. Some themes — sexuality, religion, and adjusting to developing bodies are relatable to most girls who grew up in Purity Culture. 

The poetry in prose discusses the challenges little girls transforming into womanhood have while navigating this gross society we’ve built for them and the well-intended, poorly executed ways parents call themselves protecting these children. Note: You don’t notice the story is written in poetry.

About the Author

Elizabeth is a New York City first gen, Dominican American Spoken Word Poet. Check Elizabeth’s phenomenal spoken word poem, “Rat Ode,” that she dedicated to a professor who told her rats were not noble enough for a poem. This is the first of Elizabeth Acevedo’s books and is highly lauded as a NYT Best Seller and  2019 Printz Award Winner.

Why I Loved It

I found myself pissed off at the side characters. Like, where did they get off talking to Xiomora like that? The hero me would be telling off everyone — her mama getting the largest piece of my mind. Her daddy needs to deal with too. And the boys in her neighborhood and school need their heads knocked off.

Where are her people? Who is protecting her?

It breaks my heart to hear of parents who call their daughters names. She’s a little girl — Same age as my niece. But this Dominican girl in Harlem is in a big, voluptuous body. And she can’t catch a break. 

My heart goes out to the girls whose bodies get attention from men at a young age—especially those with parents who don’t help them navigate the challenges in a healthy, helpful way. 

The almost abusive religiosity of well-meaning mothers reminded me that I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. Xiomora is not your perfect Dominican daughter. 

Both mothers destroy a notebook symbolic of their daughter’s spirits. Do these mothers not understand a notebook and understanding parents is the strongest arsenal a girl can have while navigating this challenging transition from childhood to womanhood? 

Key Quotes:

 “I am the baby fat that settled into D-cups and swinging hips so that the boys who called me a whale in middle school now ask me to send them pictures of myself in a thong.”

“Just because your father’s present, doesn’t mean he isn’t absent.”

“When your body takes up more room than your voice, you are always the target of well-aimed rumors.”

“And I knew then what I’d known since my period came: my body was trouble. I had to pray the trouble out of the body God gave me. My body was a problem. And I didn’t want any of these boys to be the ones to solve it.”

“So many of the poems tonight felt a little like our own stories. Like we saw and were seen. And How crazy would it be if I did that for someone else.”

“Hope is a thing with wings.”

Other Books to enhance your comprehension of this book:

Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality by Rachel Roy Welcher

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free

I hope you dive into The Poet X like I did and read other books by this author. 

In Assignments on
August 13, 2023

With The Fire On High

Two seperate photes. The first is a head shot of the author, elizabeth Acevedo surrounded my a halo of dominican curls. The other shows Spanish and English versions of the novel "With The Fire On High" against a wood background.

Elizabeth Acevedo makes me fall in love with her writing again in this novel, With The Fire On High. With The Fire On High is a coming-of-age story about a third-culture teen of African-American and Puerto Rian descent learning to juggle the responsibilities of teen motherhood while chasing her culinary dreams in Philadelphia. 

In Spanish, the title is El Ingrediente Secreto de Emoni Santiago.

Before I get into the content, let’s first marvel over that cover art! If you want to judge a book by its cover, With Fire On High is the book to do it. This story is beautiful both inside and out. 

Summary

Emoni Santiago is a talented 17-year-old, intuitive chef who must learn rigid conformity in her culinary class to elevate her cooking. She desires to tour Spain with her class and become a professional chef, but she has a few barriers to opportunities. Her mother passed away during labor (a high statistical probability for African-American women). Although her father is present in her life, he chooses to live in Puerto Rico, leaving his mother to raise Emoni. As such ‘Buela is now raising her third generation of babies (Emoni’s dad, Emoni, and Emoni’s two-year-old daughter Emma).

Emoni is busy going to school, working, being a mother, maintaining friendships, cooking, applying to college, and having a chance at love. She has to sort through motherhood sacrifices and prioritize not only her desires but what will be best for her little girl. The adults in her life support her, but she has until graduation to figure out the best path for her life. She has to act quickly because the fire is on high in her life.

Why I Loved With The Fire On High

  • I don’t know how she does it, but Elizabeth Acevedo writes compelling characters that you want to root for. The way the author makes the reader invested in the success of the protagonist is a skill writers envy. In this case, you have a perceptive, determined, hardworking teen who has experienced adversity. But you can’t help but hope everything works out for her. You keep reading because you’re genuinely excited to learn which of the bright paths toward her future she might choose.
  • The way the author addresses multicultural topics through dialogue provides an education that might lessen the strain of multicultural kids.
  • I grew up during a time when adults pushed the narrative that unmarried pregnancy was the worst thing that could ever happen in hopes of scaring teens, girls in particular, into abstinence. This book takes a more balanced approach. While getting pregnant during your freshman year of high school isn’t ideal, motherhood is still a challenging but rewarding charge. This book explores the hardships with equal clarity as the tenderness and joys.
  • And then there’s the food. Food, for me, is always a fun topic to read. In the novel, food is the central theme surrounding togetherness, community, connection, history, and healing. Just like in her novel, Clap When You Land, the author sure knows how to write about food in a way that stirs the senses!
  • Emoni’s story is thought-provoking and relatable to everyone who has gone through that major life transition into adulthood. With The Fire On High tops my praise list. I’ll recommend its lessons and positive messaging to everyone over the age of 17. 

That said, this book also mentions themes and topics of:

Descriptive depiction of teenage sex (page 44), mentions immature sexual innuendo amongst teenage conversations, Teen Parenthood, LGBTQ+ issues, Death, Caregiving, Cultural Identity, Community, and mentorship.

I always want to point out a few things that might raise a yellow flag for parents. You can’t always blindly trust that YA fiction is really suitable for young readers (age 13-18).

Other Books By Elizabeth Acevedo that I adore are Clap When You Land and The Poet X

Other Books that center food:

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

The Secret Recipe for Moving On by Karen Bischer