Poetry
is like a song, like a psalm, like a prayer. Poetry is different things to many
people, and April being Poetry Month,
The Latina
Book Club has been celebrating
and spotlighting poets all month long.
We are happy to end the month with a
brilliant and stupendous poetry collection by the legendary
Margarita Engle, poet, writer and
multiple Pura Belpre award winner.
Margarita Engle’s collection is
rightly named, BRAVO! POEMS ABOUT AMAZING HISPANICS. The applause for this collection is endless. She
honors the best and the brightest Latino stars. The subjects come from
different lands, different professions, but all their poems share a richness
that makes us proud to be Latino too.
And many thanks to artist Rafael Lopez who illustrated the books. His
drawings are a great compliment to Engle’s poems.
SUMMARY: Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot―the
Latinos featured in this collection, BRAVO!,
come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds.
Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history
and a community that continues to evolve and thrive today. Biographical poems
include: Aida de Acosta, Arnold Rojas, Baruj Benacerraf, César Chávez, Fabiola
Cabeza de Baca, Félix Varela, George Meléndez, José Martí, Juan de Miralles,
Juana Briones, Julia de Burgos, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Paulina Pedroso, Pura
Belpré, Roberto Clemente, Tito Puente, Ynes Mexia, and Tomás Rivera.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many
verse books, including the Newbery Honor Book The
Surrender Tree, the
PEN USA Award winner The
Lightning Dreamer, and the Walter Dean Myers Honor Enchanted Air. Her books have also received
multiple Pura Belpré and Américas Awards as well as a Jane Addams Award, an
International Reading Association Award, and many others. Books for younger
children include Mountain
Dog, Summer
Birds, and the Charlotte Zolotow Award winner Drum Dream Girl. Learn more about Engle at www.margaritaengle.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST: The
work of Rafael
López is a fusion of strong
graphic style and magical symbolism. Growing up in Mexico City, he was immersed
in the rich cultural heritage and native color of street life. He has
illustrated many award-winning books, including Book
Fiesta! by Pat Mora; Tito
Puente Mambo King, by Monica Brown; and The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha Vamos. In 2012 he was
selected by the Library of Congress to create the artwork for the National Book
Festival in Washington D.C.
READ LATINO
READ LATINO POETRY