Your Heart, My Sky by Margarita Engle (9781534464964)

Liana and Amado are trying to survive Cuba’s el período especial en tiempos de paz—the special period in times of peace, in the 1990s. The time period when the Cuban government’s strict rules after the collapse of the Soviet Union threw the population into famine. Liana avoids the summer labor she has been assigned to, even though she opens her family to retribution. She spends her days instead with a dog she met, a special singing dog who helps bring her together with Amado. Amado is the brother of a prisoner, which already puts his family under additional scrutiny. He wants to follow in his brother’s pacifist footsteps as the mandatory military service looms in his future. As Liana and Amado come together, they must find a way to help one another survive starvation while seeing if they can have any future together at all.

Engle is the master of the verse novel, weaving her incredible poetry into tales of Cuba. This time, her focus on a period of starvation in Cuba is particularly exceptional. She creates a beautiful romance between two people (and a special dog) in the midst of such political upheaval and danger. The romance is captivating but it is the state of Cuba itself that creates the energy and horror in the story. From people dying of starvation to political imprisonment to casting yourself on the water to try to reach America. There are no easy decisions here, all ways lead to death or prison.

As always, Engle’s books are captivating. Her writing is marvelous, building the romance from tentative first meetings to real love and connection in an organic and honest way. The characters themselves are beautifully drawn. Similar in their situation, they find themselves reacting in very different ways that drive them apart. Their plans for the future seem disparate but could just be the way they can survive and be together after all.

Tense and horrifying, this poetic look at starvation in Cuba is riveting. Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from copy provided by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.