BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSXiomara Batista is fifteen, a sophomore in Harlem, and impossible to overlook. She is taller than her father, answers trouble with her fists, and gets far more attention for her body than she wants. Her parents are older, strict, and Dominican, and they treat Xiomara and her twin brother as a miracle. Her mother goes to Mass every day and has signed Xiomara up for confirmation class at their church this year, even though Xiomara has started to question God and the church. At home she shares a room with her gentle, brilliant twin, Xavier, whom she only ever calls Twin. Every day she writes in a leather notebook he gave her, filling it with poems she has never read to anyone. Early in the school year, a flyer for the Spoken Word Poetry Club stops her on the stairs, and her new English teacher, Ms. Galiano, keeps nudging her to join. The trouble is that the club meets on Tuesdays, the same afternoon as confirmation class. Meanwhile, a quiet boy named Aman becomes her biology lab partner, and Xiomara can't stop noticing every time their arms touch.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Poet X
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Poet X. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book is a leather notebook etched with a woman reaching to the sky a twelfth-birthday gift?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
In the final draft of her first English assignment, Xiomara writes about the notebook her twin brother bought with saved lunch money for their twelfth birthday. He hoped it would give her a place to put her thoughts, and she has written in it every single day since.
- First half
In what book does a biology lab partner write back that she's still deciding whether he's cute?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
In biology, Xiomara and Aman pass notes on scrap paper about their days, their parents, and the next time they'll go to the smoke park. When he asks if she thinks he's cute, she teases him with this answer and a smiley face.
- First half
In what book is a priest asked "Is the whole Bible a poem?" in front of a confirmation class?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
When Father Sean says Eve's story teaches us to resist the apple, Xiomara bursts out with questions about dinosaurs, evolution, and what in the Bible is a metaphor. Caridad turns bright red, the younger kids watch like it's a WWE match, and Father Sean asks to talk with her after class.
- Second half
In what book does the world wear masking tape over its mouth while a girl wears invisible headphones?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Feeling crushed by everything at home and at school, Xiomara shuts out the world for days, pretending to wear invisible Beats headphones. She tunes out teachers, Father Sean, Twin, Caridad and even Aman, and decides the world is almost peaceful when you stop trying to understand it.
- Second half
In what book is a newcomer mistaken for a freshman by a girl in a pink tutu and Jordans?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
At her first poetry club meeting, Xiomara meets Isabelle, a straight-talking girl from the Bronx, who asks if she is the freshman all the boys talk about. Xiomara shrugs and says she is actually a sophomore, and Isabelle pats the seat next to her.
- Near the end
In what book is a Christmas Eve gift, expected to be a rosary, actually a resized baby bracelet?
✓ Answer
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
After Midnight Mass, Mami brings Xiomara a small box and says she had it resized because she knows Xiomara likes jewelry. Inside is her old baby bracelet, with her name on the gold plaque and Mi Hija inscribed on the inside, and Xiomara mostly feels relief that it isn't a rosary.
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