#14 in Young adult
The Poet X
- 361
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
- Michael L. Printz Award
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Our view
“The Poet X” is a young adult novel that makes poetry feel urgent: a fifteen-year-old writes her way through the conflicts at home. Xiomara also confronts the way the world looks at a young woman’s body, and some readers praise both the poems and how personally the story reaches them. It is for teenagers above all, and for anyone who remembers needing words of their own.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Poet X, published March 6, 2018 by Quill Tree Books, is a young adult novel by Elizabeth Acevedo. Fifteen-year-old Xiomara, also known as "X" or "Xio," works through the tension and conflict in her family by writing poetry. The Poet X addresses themes of patriarchy, sexism, and objectification of young women through X's experiences. The book, a New York Times bestseller, was well received and won multiple awards at the 2019 Youth Media Awards as well as the Carnegie Medal for Writing.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.9 across 313 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 68% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Young adult average of 7.8. That is how 8.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.6 | 5 | 2% |
| Hardcover | 8.9 | 308 | 98% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Poet X for?
The Poet X sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 361 pages — shorter than 74% of the ranked books in Young adult.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Young adult — with scores between 8.5 and 8.6, closest to this book.
