[Review] The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Cover image from the goodreads website.

Series: N/A

Release Date: 16 March, 2018

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Emigration & Immigration/Social & Family Issues/Coming of Age/Poetry

ISBN: 9781368005845

Edition: Audiobook (also available in Kindle and Hardback)

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 11 February, 2019

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. 

See more by Elizabeth Acevedo at her Website.

[Review] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Series: Stand-Alone

Release Date: 28 February, 2017

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Emotions & Feelings/Social & Family Issues /Prejudice & Racism/Violence

ISBN: 9780062498533

Edition: Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 16 June, 2018

Summary: Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty. Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

See more by Angie Thomas at her Website.

Trigger Warnings: Police Brutality, Murder, Graphic Violence

[Review] The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

Series: N/A

Release Date: 1 November, 2016

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Genre: Young Adult/Literature & Fiction/Social & Family Issues/New Experiences/Emotions & Feelings/Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 9781524721398

Edition: audiobook

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 13 March, 2018

Summary: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

[Review] Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Series: N/A

Release Date: 1 September, 2015

Publisher: Random House Kids\Delacorte

Genre: Young Adult Fiction / Romance / Social Issues

ISBN: 9781101916407

Edition: audiobook

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Review Written: 24 February, 2018

Summary: Risk everything . . . for love.

What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It’s an innovative,  inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more.

See more by Nicola Yoon at her Website.