Poetry & Fiction: The Surrender Tree and 90 Miles to Havana

Bibliography –

Flores-Galbis, Enrique. 2010. 90 Miles to Havana. New York: Roaring Brook Press. ISBN – 9781596431683.

Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN – 9780312608712.

Critical Review –

The Pura Belpre honor book, 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis, is an excellent pairing with the verse novel, The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle. Besides the obvious connections with Cuba and revolutions, both in the pair are outstanding books to use with secondary students for a variety of activities. Flores-Galbis writes an extremely descriptive story which draws the reader in and also lends itself to poetic qualities. While many passages could be selected to demonstrate the novel’s poetic qualities, the passage below is begging to be written as a poem:

The Monkey man grabs my arm and hustles me out of a side door. We rush past the garbage cans and then down a dirt path behind the swimming pool. The smell of suntan lotion and the sparkling blue water is making me homesick. We walk around the pool to the edge of the sand and then he stops, wipes off his shiny little boots, and points at a striped tent down on the beach. I feel like asking him why we didn’t just walk straight here, but I know the answer. He didn’t want the guests to see me. I take my sneakers off and start walking across the hot sand to the tent.

When a sea breeze blows the tent flap open, I see a large man sitting back on a chaise lounge with what looks like a flock of yellow butterflies fluttering above his head. He’s scribbling something into a yellow notebook. (p. 188)

This coming-of-age story written in first person will invite even the most reluctant reader with its universal themes of isolation and confusion that come with the major changes of growing up. Also, the dynamic characters attract the reader in such a way that the novel is impossible to put down until the reader finally joins Julian in the “place to begin again.”

In the Newbery honor book, The Surrender Tree, Margarita Engle writes in verse novel of the struggles of Cuban people during three revolutionary wars of the late 1800s. Many people are being rounded up and placed in concentration camps where life is hard and barely survivable. Rosa, a nurse, decides to take her chances with the resistance group who hides out in caves rather than face Lieutenant Death. The poems are written in the voice of several characters but predominantly through the quiet voice of Rosa who is a freed slave. The title of the individual poems reveals to the reader who is speaking. Through the voices of the characters, these poems show the unrelenting desire of Cubans to win freedom from their Spanish oppressors. While Rosa goes around trying to heal the sick and battle wounded, the reader wonders if it is possible to heal the country from the devastating realities of war. The emotionally charged language will touch the reader with the full gamut of feelings from anguish, to despair, to contentment, and to hope. Below is a poem from this verse novel.

Silvia (p. 158)
from The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle

I feel like a child again.
I don't know how to behave.

The war is over--
should I dance,
am I free to sing out loud,
free to grow up,
fall in love?

I am free to smile
while the orphans sleep.

I admit that I feel impatient,
so eager to write in a journal,
like the Fox
writing a record
of all that I have seen...

Peace is not the paradise
I imagined, but it is a chance
to dream...

Kid Connection –

In pairing these two selections, have the students read 90 Miles to Havana before using the poems from The Surrender Tree. To introduce the poem, discuss Julian’s adventure in 90 Miles to Havana. Be sure to include in the discussion how he recorded memories in his drawings. Read the above poem. Next, have two student volunteers read the poem by alternating lines. Ask the students to share their impressions of the poem, and then on a flip chart or multimedia projector, record on a chart student responses comparing Julian’s feelings at the end of the novel to Silvia’s feelings in this poem. As a follow-up, have students select portions of 90 Miles to Havana like the section above and complete a “found poetry” activity.

Poetry by Kids: Salting the Ocean by Naomi Shahib Nye

Bibliography –

Nye, Naomi Shahib. 2000. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Ill. by Ashley Bryan. New York: Greenwillow Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN – 9780688161934.

Critical Review –

Nye assembles a 100 poem collection written by school age children in first through twelfth grade. The poems were created by students that she worked with in a program called “writer-in-schools” which was originally sponsored by the Texas Commission on the Arts but later expanded to include the states of Maine, Wyoming, and Oregon. Besides the poems, the book has many features that make it a handy reference for the teacher or librarian who uses poetry with children. The table of contents lists the introduction, the four sections of poems, an afterword, acknowledgments, suggestions for further reading, and an index to the poems as well as an index to the poets. The dual index assists in finding poems or poets easily.

The introduction has three parts: an explanation of how she began collecting the poems, a “note to teachers, librarians, parents, and other friends who may pick up this book”, and a thank you note to the poets. The note to teachers and others section can be summed up by the following quote, “There may be nothing more ‘basic’ in education than gaining a sense of one’s own voice” (p. xii). In contrast, the poems are arranged in four sections starting with a quote and a subtitle that reveals a thematic connection between the poems in that section. Also, she identifies how many poems are in each section. For example, section three has the quote, “My Grandma Squashes Roaches with Her Hand” and a subtitle of “twenty-three poems about Anybody’s Family.” The organization and extra reference material in this anthology create a valuable poetry resource.

The poems and illustrations are also valuable as a poetry resource for anyone working with children. The illustrations are beautifully done in tempera paints. Eleven bold illustrations are included, and if this collection has one negative it is that it could benefit from more illustrations. The poems show great diversity in style and voice. They range from prose written with line breaks to very unique forms such as the poem, “How to Grow Up,” (p. 8) which is a how to written in list form with very interesting line breaks. Similarly, the poems vary in length from two lines to an excerpt that is two pages. The best part of this collection is the information in the colored boxes interspersed within the index. In these boxes, Nye shares experiences she had with the children who wrote the poems. These glimpses of her experiences are sometimes funny and other times heartwarming, but in either case, they are helpful tidbits for the librarian or teacher who wants to use poetry with children. Below is a poem from this anthology to use with children.

Listen
By Rene Salazar

Listen to the teacher
when she's not talking.
Listen to the radio
when it's not on.
Listen to the river
when it's not flowing.
Listen to yourself
when you're not listening.

Kid Connection –

Before reading the above poem, ask the children to name some poets. Next ask them what they think makes a poem good enough to be printed in a book. Then, read the poem. Wait for a few moments and then allow the children to discuss their impressions of the poem. Next, have two student volunteers read the poem again by one person reading the “Listen” lines and the other student reading the “when” lines. Once again have the students discuss the poem and see if their impressions have changed. Continue the discussion by having them express why or why not this poem should be in a published anthology of poems. Finally, share with them that this poem was written by a student like them and invite them to write a poem mimicking the structure.

Janeczko Collection: Foot in the Mouth by Paul B. Janeczko

Bibliography –

Janeczko, Paul B. 2009. A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout. Ill. by Chris Raschka. Somerville. MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN – 9780763606633.

Critical Review –

In this thirty-seven poem anthology, Janeczko collects a symphony of sounds in this diverse assortment of poems. He uses contemporary poets, such as Janet Wong and Douglas Florian along with time honored classic poems like Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.” Janeczko also crosses genre lines with Shakespeare’s MacBeth Act IV, Scene I in which the three witches are speaking and written in poetic form. Additionally, Janeczko infuses cultural diversity in poems that use French words, and some poems written in Spanish. Each poem has strong sound elements such as rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeia. All of this is to focus on the sounds in poetry no matter the time period, culture, or genre.

Janeczko organizes the poems by sound type: poems for one voice, tongue twisters, poems for two voices, list poems, poems for three voices, short stuff, bilingual poems, rhymed poems, limericks, and poems for a group. He includes an introduction that explains why he feels sound is extremely important in poetry and concludes with an invitation to try the poems out. Just as the poems tickle the ears, the illustrations dazzle the eyes. All of the illustrations, done in ink and watercolors on torn paper, are vividly bright abstracts that invite visual scrutiny. The images wonderfully enhance each poem without overpowering the poems. Below is a delightful poem from this collection that begs to be read out loud.

Innuendo
By David McCord

You are French? Je suis.
You speak French? Mais oui.
I don't speak French. Non?
I speak English. Bon!

Kid Connection –

Introduce the poem by playing the song “Frere Jacques.” Ask the children if they know what the language of the song is. Next, read the poem, “Innuendo” by David McCord. Share with the children that some of the words in the poem are also in French like the song. Then, read the poem again by having the children read the English words while you read the French words. Ask the students if the poem rhymes. Next, share the poem again replacing the French words with their English translations. Ask the children if the poem still rhymes. Discuss why the poet might have decided to use French words instead of English.