The colorful picturebook, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle with illustrations by Mike Curato, is set in modern day Cuba. It focuses on a family celebration and how Cuban resourcefulness keeps American cars from the 1950s running. A boy narrates the trip his family takes from the country to Havana in their precious old car, Cara Cara, a 1954 Chevy. Before they can take off, Papa and his son have to fix the car. They try and try to fix the silly noises. “The rattling parts have ben fixed with wire, tape and mixed-up scraps of dented metal.” Finally, “Cara Cara once again begins to sound like a chattering hen!” Continue reading
Margarita Engle
MTYT: Lion Island
For this final conversation around “Rethinking conceptual otherness in history: Exploring untold histories in the U.S. and global communities,” Michele Ebersole and Yoo Kyung Sung give their takes on Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words by Margarita Engle. They began the discussion with A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice, Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxua and Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner.
Diversity within Children’s and Young Adolescent Latino Literature: Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous Communities
by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán & Richelle Jurasek
This week we continue our focus on Afro-Caribbean influences in Latino children’s literature but also start addressing Indigenous perspectives. Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, another historical fiction novel by Cuban-American author Margarita Engle, offers a window into the experiences of Caribbean islander workers but also into the experiences of indigenous communities Continue reading
Diversity within Children’s and Young Adolescent Latino Literature: Afro-Latinos and Afro-Caribbean communities, Part II
by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán & Amy Olson
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, by Margarita Engle (2006)
Last week, we started featuring and commenting on literature that represents the experiences of Afro-Latinos and Afro-Caribbean communities Continue reading