Xiomara Batista is a teenage girl, a twin, and a Dominican living in Harlem. She’s also the daughter of strict parents and an extremely religious mother. But most important of all, Xiomara is a poet. She makes herself heard and understood through the words she writes in her notebook, but never says out loud--until everything changes. Xiomara meets Ms. Galiano, learns about the Spoken Word Poetry Club and poetry slams, and she becomes Aman’s lab partner. How will Xiomara find a way to be true to who she really is, and survive living under her mother’s restrictive rules? Told in beautifully written verse by Poetry Slam champion Elizabeth Acevedo, this debut novel must not be missed. I recommend this book to readers who like books in verse, urban fiction, relationships, family struggles, and authors Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Meg Medina.
