Plot Summary - This book contains collections of poems that describe Cuba's struggle for independence. It is about Rosa, a freed slave who hides out in the mountains to nurse injured and sick slaves on the run. She even nurses the Spanish soldiers that come upon her needing medical assistance.
Personal Reaction - I found this book very interesting. This is a history I'm not familiar with so I enjoyed learning from this book. It is a beautifully written book.
Memorable Literary Element - This book is written in verse that follows the life of different people that lived in Cuba during the Cuban wars for independence from 1869 to 1898. The writer uses repetition, alliteration, and carefully chosen words and stressed syllables to create a different rhythm for each poem. No two poems are exactly a like.
Review - From Booklist *Starred Review* As in The Poet Slave of Cuba (2006), Engle’s new book is written in clear, short lines of stirring free verse. This time she draws on her own Cuban American roots, including stories from her grandmother, to describe those who fought in the nineteenth-century Cuban struggle for independence. At the center is Rosa, a traditional healer, who nurses runaway slaves and deserters in caves and other secret hideaways. Her husband, José, a freed slave, also speaks, and so does a refugee child, whom Rosa teaches to be a healer. Then there is the vicious slave hunter known as Lieutenant Death; his collection of ears is an unforgettable image of brutality (“shown as proof that the runaway slave / died fighting, resisting capture”). The switching perspectives personalize the dramatic political history, including the establishment of the world’s first “reconcentration camps” to hold prisoners, as well as the role of slave owners who freed their slaves and joined the resistance against Spain. Many readers will be caught by the compelling narrative voices and want to pursue the historical accounts in Engle’s bibliography. Grades 6-12. --Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Promotion - Research and learn about the Cuban Wars for Independence. Rosa was based off of a woman known as Rosario Castellanos Castellanos or Rosa la Bayamesa. Look up Rosa and the other characters and find out more information about them.
Read other poetry books by Margarita Engle and discuss common elements found in her poetry.The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle The Wild Book by Margarita Engle Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle
Have the students choose a poem from the novel The Surrender Tree that stood out to them and read it to the class. Discuss why they chose the poem and the words the author uses that helped convey emotion or the message found in the poem.
Personal Reaction - I found this book very interesting. This is a history I'm not familiar with so I enjoyed learning from this book. It is a beautifully written book.
Memorable Literary Element - This book is written in verse that follows the life of different people that lived in Cuba during the Cuban wars for independence from 1869 to 1898. The writer uses repetition, alliteration, and carefully chosen words and stressed syllables to create a different rhythm for each poem. No two poems are exactly a like.
Review - From Booklist *Starred Review* As in The Poet Slave of Cuba (2006), Engle’s new book is written in clear, short lines of stirring free verse. This time she draws on her own Cuban American roots, including stories from her grandmother, to describe those who fought in the nineteenth-century Cuban struggle for independence. At the center is Rosa, a traditional healer, who nurses runaway slaves and deserters in caves and other secret hideaways. Her husband, José, a freed slave, also speaks, and so does a refugee child, whom Rosa teaches to be a healer. Then there is the vicious slave hunter known as Lieutenant Death; his collection of ears is an unforgettable image of brutality (“shown as proof that the runaway slave / died fighting, resisting capture”). The switching perspectives personalize the dramatic political history, including the establishment of the world’s first “reconcentration camps” to hold prisoners, as well as the role of slave owners who freed their slaves and joined the resistance against Spain. Many readers will be caught by the compelling narrative voices and want to pursue the historical accounts in Engle’s bibliography. Grades 6-12. --Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Promotion - Research and learn about the Cuban Wars for Independence. Rosa was based off of a woman known as Rosario Castellanos Castellanos or Rosa la Bayamesa. Look up Rosa and the other characters and find out more information about them.
Read other poetry books by Margarita Engle and discuss common elements found in her poetry.The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle The Wild Book by Margarita Engle Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle
Have the students choose a poem from the novel The Surrender Tree that stood out to them and read it to the class. Discuss why they chose the poem and the words the author uses that helped convey emotion or the message found in the poem.