The Poet Slammed theWundersmith
We enjoyed both and depending on which audience you have in mind, could easily vote for either. Nevermoor is a magical, fantastic world. It was entertaining and moved along quickly. It would be a great read for upper elementary and grade 7s. For more mature readers, Poet X is a unique take on coming of age, both in its content and its verse delivery. Those of us who read both books could really go either way, but as junior high teachers we see more appeal in Poet X.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow is action packed, though perhaps lacking depth. It presents a curious magical world. It's Harry Potter-ish. In fact, perhaps too much of the content is "borrowed" from Rowling - a cursed child, an eleventh birthday, discovering magical abilities, finding an alternate magical community, passing trials, a rival student, and a mortal enemy. Nevertheless it is a fun read.

One of our voters doesn't normally don't like poetry, but liked Poet X. It reads like prose. One reader switched to audiobook part way through. She highly recommends the audio version which is read by the author,  a renowned slam poet. One voter was disappointed by the quality of the poetry in a verse novel about poetry! Said voter would like it known that her zombie pick, Jason Reynold's Long Way Down, was much more poetic.

We thought it would great for a high school English -2 class. The theme is at their level, but the language is approachable for a dash 2.

One reader didn't like the contradiction Xiomara expresses: on the one hand she doesn't want to be objectified by boys, but on the other hand she objectifies boys in one of her poems. On the other other hand, we know that teenagers are full of contradictions.

Although Xiomara's life and experience are very different from our students' experiences, there was a lot here that teens could identify with - strict parents, questioning religion, feeling objectified, slut shaming, worrying about coming out. Speaking of which, we'd have liked more on Twin.

In the end our vote, though close, is 4 counts for Poet X.

Renee, Dianne, Megan, and Alisha (Ottewell)