“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 her frustration 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. 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. When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she knows that she could never get around Mami’s rules to attend, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about preforming her poems. Because in spite of a world that may not wnat to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.”

This is a truly beautiful book. It is a poem book, so it is a pretty easy read. This is a great story of finding your true self, learning how you don’t need to change for anyone but yourself and standing up for what you believe in. I think that the author did really well on making such a big world fit into these pages. There is so much emotion in this book and I found multiple times that I just wanted to take the main character (Xiomara) in my arms and cry with her. This is definitely a good read for teens. I am giving this book a 4/5 and I would say ages 13+.

Here are some places you can find it;

Half Price Books Barnes & Noble Thriftbooks Amazon Goodreads

Have a great day and happy reading!