Spotlight On: Margarita Engle

One of my new favorite authors for young adults is Margarita Engle. If you haven’t read one of her books yet, I encourage you to do so. Engle is of American and Cuban descent, a child of an American father and Cuban mother. She has won numerous awards for her works, including the Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpre Award, Americas Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award…the list goes on!

Most of Engle’s books take place in Cuba, where she is from. What I like most about her books is that she writes historical fiction pieces for adolescents about young people who are faced with impossible situations, yet still have hope of making the world a better place. Her characters often face hardship, poverty, prejudice, and racism, yet come together in unlikely friendships that span across class, race, sex, and religion. These are all important, relevant themes to be discussing with our students!

One of Engle’s books that is not to be missed is Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. The book highlights the journey of Daniel, a young, Jewish boy who has been separated from his family in his escape from Nazi Germany. Cuba has welcomed a ship of Jewish refugees from Europe after they have been turned away from America. However, this doesn’t mean that all the Cuban people are happy to welcome these refugees into their homeland. The book chronicles Daniel’s loneliness in a strange land without his family, and a friendship he makes with a Cuban girl named Paloma, against her father’s wishes.

Before I had read this book, I had never known that Cuba took in Holocaust refugees from Nazi ruled Europe. So often, we think of America as a place that has always welcomed those who were in trouble or displaced. This book opened my eyes in a powerful way to the historical facts of the time, and challenged a lot of what I thought I knew already.  I have no doubt it would have the same affect on young students.

Engle’s style of writing is also lovely to read. She writes in short chapters, each about one or two pages long told from the perspective of different characters in the story. Her style is almost stanza-like, where she presents character’s thoughts and feelings in short, easy to read vignettes. I think her books would be great for the reluctant, adolescent reader because they make the reading easy to do, yet filled with content. Engle’s style gives the reader a strong sense of each character while simultaneously allowing the story to flow in an exciting, interesting way. I felt like I was reading an exciting, riveting story, but learning about history as well as the strength of the human spirit all at once.

I highly recommend Tropical Secrets , as well as The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba. Both are great historical fiction books for young adults that can be used in numerous ways in the classroom. Happy reading!