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YA
Fifteen-year-old Xiomara, a self-described "brown and big and angry" Dominican girl from Harlem, finds peace in writing poetry. The slow-burning suspense of what will transpire when devout Catholic Mami discovers Xiomara's clandestine relationship with a classmate is eclipsed only by the devastation that occurs when Mami reads Xiomara's candid poetry journal. Acevedo's debut verse novel is an arresting portrait of a young poet coming into her own.