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POETRY MONTH! SPOTLIGHT ON MARGARITA ENGLE

   
  
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 GirlLearn 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.



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