Parents' Guide to The Poet X

This novel in verse is stunning, beautiful, and uncomfortably accurate at times. In The Poet X, author Elizabeth Acevedo takes readers through Xiomara's life as she finds herself being punished for simply existing and having the audacity to want to exist outside of the narrow boxes where society, religion, and her mother have decided she belongs. Readers can feel the shame, fear, and confusion Xiomara grapples with so much that they may have to resist the temptation to withdraw into themselves like Xiomara.

Acevedo perfectly captures what it's like to have a changing body that suddenly becomes an indictment against who you are, even though you have no control over how it has blossomed into womanhood. The sexualization and policing of girls' bodies, and the silencing of their voices by those who install themselves as their protectors, is particularly striking in this moment of the #MeToo movement and the nationwide battles over school dress codes that unfairly target girls and women. The book is timely, sensitive, powerful, and hopeful. Families of both boys and girls can have great discussions about puberty, gender politics, religion, and finding your voice.