Thursday, September 30, 2010

Tropical Secrets by Margarita Engle



BIBLIOGRAPHY: Engle, Margartia. 2009. Tropical Secrets. New York, NY; Henry Holt and Company.
ISBN 9780805089363

PLOT SUMMARY: Daniel's life in verse after escaping Nazi Germany and ending up in Cuba.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Engle's free verse narration of Daniel, a Jewish boy escaping Nazi Germany and a girl in Cuba, where Daniel ends up, is full a descriptive imagery. Students may be bored with the subject of Nazi Germany or Cuba, but reading Daniel's and Paloma's accounts of their lives intertwined is brought to life through the poems. The books reads like an actual story and not like a collection of poems. Although meter, rhythm, sound is hard to detect, because the story comes to life through the imagery and emotion through the poetry.


AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS:
 “This book is an outstanding choice for young people of all reading skills. Reluctant readers will be encouraged by the open layout and brief text, and everyone will be captivated by the eloquent poems and compelling characters.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“Readers who think they might not like a novel in verse will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly and smoothly the story flows...The book will provide great fodder for discussion of the Holocaust, self-reliance, ethnic and religious bias, and more.”—VOYA

CONNECTIONS:
Middle and High School themed units in which this book may be used in conjuction with are: immigration, refugees, WWII, Nazi Gernany, Holocaust, Cuba 

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