Poet X – Common Read 2020

This year’s Common Read for incoming ninth graders and new 10th graders is Poet X by award winning poet and author Elizabeth Acevedo.  Information about the book and the author can be found below and on our Common Read – Poet X guide which includes video clips of Acevedo performing some of the poems from the book.

Both the ebook and audiobook of Poet X are available for all incoming 9th and 10th grade students through the Library’s online collection OverDrive. If students would like to read or listen to the book using a mobile device, they can download OverDrive’s mobile app called Sora (App Store; Google Play).   Information regarding OverDrive and directions for setting up the mobile app can be found on the Library E-Book guide.  Single copies of Acevedo’s other works including Clap When You Land and With the Fire On High can also be borrowed from OverDrive/Sora.

If students have questions about accessing the ebook or audiobook, they can chat, email or text a librarian using our Ask Us! Service (Monday – Friday 8am – 6pm EST).

The Library supports the Common Read program through the Jackie Thomas Fund.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this award-winning, New York Times best-seller, “Acevedo transforms everyday language into transcendent imagery in this novel-in-verse about Xiomara, who struggles to come into her own power amid her restrictive upbringing. Over the course of these lyrical, expressive, and honest poems, she grows from speaking with her fists to embracing her identity as the Poet X.” — from the Printz Award Committee

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

National Poetry Slam Champion Elizabeth Acevedo received the 2018 National Book Award for her New York Times best selling novel, The Poet X. She is also the winner of the Boston-Globe Hornbook Award Prize for Best Children’s Fiction and the author of Clap When You Land, With the Fire On High, and the chapbook Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths. Acevedo holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband.