Day: February 19, 2008

The Surrender Tree

| Tasha

The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle.
Released in April 2008.

The author of The Poet Slave of Cuba returns with another historical verse novel about Cuba.  The book focuses on Rosa and her efforts to heal the sick and wounded throughout the many wars Cuba fought during the mid-to-late 19th century.  Rosa, once a slave but then illegally freed, learned to be a healer and then taught herself how to use the local fruits and fauna as remedies.  She hid in caves, huts and the jungle from many different people throughout the years.  Some people began as her enemies and then were healed by her and joined her side.  Others like Lieutenant Death continued to hunt her despite her kindness.  Most of the characters in the book are based on real people, but Engle had to extrapolate about their daily lives and their personal concerns.

Engle’s poetry is just as powerful and intriguing as that in her first book.  Once again tackling one of the darkest and most awful parts of any country’s history, her poetry offers a guiding light of beauty in the jungle-filled darkness.  Written in any other form, the bleakness of the subject could have been overwhelming, but Engle again succeeds in overcoming it into hope.

Another vital piece of Engle’s powerful art is her ability to create single complete poems that work alone and yet together create a complete history and story.   Here is one of my favorite poems in the book:

Rosa

Gathering the green, heart-shaped leaves
of sheltering herbs in a gial forest,

I forget that I am grown now,
with daydreams of my own,

in this place where time
does not seem to exist
in the ordinary way,

and every leaf is a heart-shaped
moment of peace.

If you enjoyed Poet Slave, then you must try this one.  Highly recommended for ages 12-14.

Trouble

| Tasha

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt (released on April 21st, 2008)

Schmidt has created another wonder of a work, completely different once again from his previous books but just as rich in language while remaining easy to read and devour.

Henry’s father always told him that if you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.  But Trouble finds their family anyway when Henry’s older brother is hit by a truck while out jogging.  The truck is driven by Chay Chouan, a Cambodian teen, sparking racial tensions that had been simmering for some time.  Henry is trapped between his deep admiration for his brother and the truth as it slowly emerges, changing forever his perception of what honor is, what brotherhood is and what strength is.

Schmidt’s language is amazingly clear yet evocative.  My copy of the book looks like a hedgehog from all of the passages I have marked.  Here is a favorite passage taken from a galley copy:

His mother reached out to Henry and drew him to her.  He could not remember another time when she had held him so tightly.  Or when his father — with eyes closed and his hands up to his face again– had looked so… empty– as if the soul had left his body, and his body understood that it would never come back.

Another nice piece is the beginning of chapter four where Schmidt describes the transformation of a town from a healthy industrial community to a ghost-filled desolation where eventually the Cambodian immigrants who understood ghosts came to live.  The first two pages of that chapter are breathtakingly brave and beautiful.

This book is filled not only with strong passages but with strong characters and complex situations that slowly reveal their complexity to Henry and the reader.  It is a joy to slowly work through the puzzle of the book, learning as each page turns and lingering over amazing language.

Highly recommended for readers ages 12-14.  Every library should have a copy of this book and make sure that children and teens who love to read will be exposed to the delight of this writing.