The Surrender Tree

Full Bibliographic Data for The Surrender Tree

Author: Margarita Engle

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Place of Publication: New York, NY

Date of Publication: 2008

ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8674-4

ISBN-10: 0-8050-8674-9

Summary: The Surrender Tree walks readers through fifty years of Cuban wars and, thus, fifty years of tragedy, bravery, and perseverance. Through alternating perspectives, from a healer and her husband to the soldier who seeks to kill them and all those who fit in between, The Surrender Tree gives an historical account of Cuban/Spanish (mostly) warfare through a five part narrative poem.

Review: Margarita Engle has created a work which brings light to the horrors of Cuban life in the 19^th century but she does so in a way which also conveys the beauty of those, such as “Rosa la Bayamesa”, who never strayed from their beliefs during seemingly hopeless times. Free of rhyme but certainly not rhythm, this novel in verse gently rocks the reader from page to page allowing them to feel every move the current character is making. The dance between “Rosa” and “Lieutenant Death” is perfectly portrayed through their alternating narratives which allow readers the comfort of choosing sides fully.

The language used to convey emotion felt by Rosa and her husband, “José”, regarding the work they were doing is poignant and leaves readers feeling as though they, too, are struggling with the fatigue that “helpless people,/all depending on us,/ seventeen lives, blessings, burdens” can bring. Silvia, the persona created by Engle to portray the many who had no voice, delivers powerful imagery as she stares “at the forts/ with holes in the wood/ that look like eyes—/ holes for the guns/ of soldiers/ who watch us/ day and night” in the camp she was sent to.

From silent scampers to explosive entrances, The Surrender Tree delicately reveals the human struggles any war will bring to individuals on both sides of the line, and the sad realization that when it’s all said and done no one is free from the destruction that has been left behind.

Awards/Recognitions:

Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, 2009 Winner United States
Claudia Lewis Award, 2009 Winner United States
Cybil Award, 2008 Finalist Poetry United States
Jane Addams Children's Book Award, 2009 Winner Older Children United States
John Newbery Medal, 2009 Honor Book United States
Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, 2009 Honor Book United States
Pura Belpre Award, 2009 Winner Author United States

Margarita Engle is noted as “The author [who] has the ability to weave a story filled with tension that finds victory over Spanish rule but no real freedom” (Library Media Connection, 12/2010).

Engle’s collection “convey[s] the fierce desire of the Cuban people to be free. Young readers will come away inspired by these portraits of courageous ordinary people” (Kirkus Reviews, 03/2008).

Related Materials:

Official Site of Margarita Engle: http://margaritaengle.com/

Kids guide to Cuba: http://www.cubacuban.com/kids/index.shtml

Other books by Henry Holt and Company: http://us.macmillan.com/HoltYoungReaders.aspx

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People

Full Bibliographic Data:

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Publisher: Philomel Books

Place of Publication: New York, NY

Date of Publication: 2002

ISBN: 0-399-23726-7

Summary: Remember the Bridge is a series of deeply moving poems bookended with a preface piece, Remember the Bridge, and a review piece, I am the Bridge. These two pieces speak of the gripping and often grueling events which saw African-Americans from their motherland of Africa to slavery then out of slavery to a new identity as Americans, which is still evolving today. All of the works between these two bookends intimately detail each section of African-American history from multiple perspectives with varying degrees of depth.

Review: This phenomenal anthology, produced by Carole Weatherford Boston, serves as a bridge for the reader to walk through each moment in African-American history. From the “Motherland” to the Auction Block where a nursing mother is sold away from her child for a mere two hundred dollars, Boston seizes her audience with a gut twisting grip that refuses to let go until the whole story has been told. But not every step in this journey is solemn; Boston also manages to weave the joys, triumphs and praises of the African-American community throughout the fabric of their heartaches, struggles, and defeat. Musicians (i.e. Marian Anderson), athletes (i.e. Magic Johnson & Tiger Woods), and activists (i.e. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) all come together in this collection as heroes of their time.

Various artists have provided illustrations and photographs which emphasize the stark reality African-Americans have known intimately for generations. The Baobab tree, or "the tree of life", is featured on the back and inside covers of this collection. Known for its many provisions, the Baobab tree possesses the same sustainable and tenacious qualities as those people who once inhabited its native land; therefore, in light of these notable similarities, this imagery makes perfect sense. The use of black and white photography conveys, appropriately, the dichotomy which has been the African-American existence for so long. Iambic tetrameter seems to be a favorite for Boston and allows her deep seeded subjects the ability to flow for readers of all ages.

Awards/Recognitions:

American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature, 2002.

North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award

Teachers' Choices, International Reading Association

Notable Book, National Council for the Social Studies

Notable Book of the English Language Arts

Bank Street College Best Children's Books of 2003

Center for Children's Books Best Books of 2002

Poetry Pick, Voices of Youth Advocates

“The poems, simply written, would be appropriate for use in elementary school classes, yet their beauty and power would be instructive for a university-level History or English class” (Elzerman, Children’s Literature).

“This is a collection for every library” (Kirkus Reviews, 2001).

Related Materials:

The official Site of Carole Boston Weatherford: http://caroleweatherford.com/Home%20Page.htm

African-American poetry: http://frank.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/afampoet.htm

Teaching Resources for African-American poetry: http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1987/3/87.03.04.x.html

A Full Moon is Rising

Full Bibliographic Data:

Author: Marilyn Singer

Illustrator: Julia Cairns

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, Inc.

Place of Publication: New York, NY

Date of Publication: 2011

ISBN: 978-1-60060-364-8

Summary: The moon is one of the magical pieces of our universe that is shared by all. From the New Moon through the Waxing Moons to the “Full Moon Rising”, from New York City to Hong Kong and deep down into the Caribbean Sea, Marilyn Singer and Julia Cairns take their readers across the world on a lunar journey. Each page of this intricately illustrated collection represents a different place, a new perspective, a unique event, all focused on the same bulging beauty – the Full Moon. Through carefully researched information, crafted into poetry, the reader learns about the varying emotions our moon is able to evoke.

Review: Singer and Cairns have skillfully woven rhythm and color with simple descriptions, in a manner which transports the reader to delicious places such as, in the poem titled Sukkot, when we found “vanilla white moonlight frosting us through the fragrant roof” of a small sukkah in Israel at harvest time. In Staircase to the Moon, Cairns provides a mystical portrait of illuminated ripples in a sleeping ocean for children to ascend to the radiant ball of light above; this evolution of imagery set forth by Singer is a gift which Cairns contributes to the collection. A combination of free verse and internal rhyming ensures that Singer has not sacrificed any of the sacred content she has painstakingly collected and included in these simple, yet thorough, culturally infused poems of the moon. High Tide, Temple of Artemis, and Lunar Eclipse make up the rhyming portion of this collection while Moon Watching, a poem about the Yucatán Coast of Mexico, is presented Haiku style. Wolf Moon is a sort of Canadian ballad, and other poems found in A Full Moon Rising can likely be labeled in various ways but I would call them free verse poems created especially vivid for the young imaginations they are sure to reach.

Awards: Though still too new to know if this book will receive any awards, A Full Moon is Rising has received positive reviews from multiple recognized sources such as Booklist, Kirkus and School Library Journal, to name only a few. A Full Moon is Rising is “gentle and lovely, just like its inspiration” (Kirkus, 04/2011).

“Singer neatly folds scientific information into the lyrical lines [while] the joyful colors and compositions echo the words’ celebratory tone” (Booklist, 05/2011).

Related Materials:

The official Site of Marilyn Singer: http://marilynsinger.net/

Marilyn’s tips on writing: http://marilynsinger.net/category/onwriting/writingtips/

Illustrator Julia Cairns’ website: http://juliacairns.net/

More on the moon: http://moonphases.info/