Blog #8 (Poetry)

Did you know that prior to 2016 no Hispanic author had ever been awarded the Newberry medal for her or his work?? And it wasn’t until 2009 that a Hispanic author was even awarded with a Newberry Honor?!

That said, for this assignment I decided to select the 2009 Newberry Honor The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle and her recent picture book Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics. 

The Surrender Tree is a book of poems about Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain told from different perspectives: Rosa, her husband Jose, Lieutenant Death, and Silvia spanning from 1850 to 1899. All but two of the characters (Silvia and oxcart driver) are based on real historical figures--including Rosa, her husband Jose, and Lieutenant Death. 

While the book gave a compelling account of Cuban history, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, mind you, but the book's characters and settings felt so dated that I couldn't relate at all. 

Unfortunately, the same thing occurred with Bravo!. Perhaps it's just because I'm as white-washed as they come, but I didn't recognize any of the people in the book other than Cesar Chavez (who I remember vaguely from my UH Mexican-American history class), Roberto Clemente (vague baseball reference), Pura Belpré (who I just learned this semester has an ALA book award named after her), and José Martí (whose poems are mentioned in another book about Cuban Americans that I'm currently reading: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora).

Now, given that the book states that it "celebrates both well known and less well known" figures, I'm not surprised that I didn't recognize many of the names--especially considering that only five of the people listed were of Mexican heritage, and Mexico is as far removed from Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and Venezuela as Canada is--but I was surprised that nothing about the book really made me want to read it.

And since we are always being encouraged to talk about the illustrations, I will. Let me start by saying that I HATE both primary and tropical colors. Always have--I think I get that from my mom. Therefore this book with its combination of bright and burnt tropical illustrations is a TOTAL turn off. Like seriously, why does almost every book about "Hispanics" default to this color palette!? I mean, just look at the woman's face below, have you ever met a Hispanic with a Burnt Orange skin?

Also, why is there always a need to surround "us" in tropical flowers. Like seriously!?

While I appreciate both works as works of poetry, neither one of these is likely to land a place on my bookshelf.

Books Mentioned In This Post:

The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle
2009 Newbery Honor Book

Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle and Rafael Lopez (illustrator)

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
2018 Pura Belpré Honor Book