Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir - Softcover
In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War.
Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother’s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not.
Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margarita’s worlds collide in the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she ever get to visit her beautiful island again?
Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother’s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not.
Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margarita’s worlds collide in the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she ever get to visit her beautiful island again?
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About the Author:
Margarita Engle was the 2017–2019 national Young People’s Poet Laureate, and received the 2019 NSK Neustadt Prize. She is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, including Soaring Earth; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and The Lightning Dreamer, a PEN Literary Award for Young Adult Literature winner. Her verse memoir, Enchanted Air, received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture book Drum Dream Girl received the Charlotte Zolotow Award. Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives. She continues to visit Cuba as often as she can. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
Enchanted Air FLIGHT
The first time my parents
take me soaring through magical sky
to meet my mother’s family in Cuba,
I am so little that I can hardly speak
to my island relatives—
my abuelita, my old grandma,
who still loves to dance,
and her ancient mamá, my great-grandma,
who still loves to garden, working
just as hard as any strong
young man.
Already, this island is beginning to seem
like a fairy-tale kingdom,
where ordinary people
do impossible
things.
The first time my parents
take me soaring through magical sky
to meet my mother’s family in Cuba,
I am so little that I can hardly speak
to my island relatives—
my abuelita, my old grandma,
who still loves to dance,
and her ancient mamá, my great-grandma,
who still loves to garden, working
just as hard as any strong
young man.
Already, this island is beginning to seem
like a fairy-tale kingdom,
where ordinary people
do impossible
things.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherAtheneum Books for Young Readers
- Publication date2016
- ISBN 10 148143523X
- ISBN 13 9781481435239
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages224
- IllustratorRodriguez Edel
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Book Description Softcover. Condition: new. Rodriguez, Edel (illustrator). Product DescriptionIn this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpr Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War.Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mothers tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not.Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margaritas worlds collide in the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she ever get to visit her beautiful island again?Review"In Margarita Engle's hauntingly beautiful memoir, readers can't help but feel as if they are pressing their hands with her against ancient cave walls and at the same time falling asleep in a darkened room full of fireflies. Engle's struggle to unite her twin selves-the Cuban girl who rides bareback with her cousins under a hot, steamy sun and the American girl who pretends to smoke in the school bathroom-lead the way to 'Herds of wild feelings/long extinct.' This is a book to return to, page after page, line after line. Exquisite." -- Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath, Newbery Honor and National Book Award Finalist* "A deeply personal memoir-in-verse filled with Engles trademark intricately woven lyricism. The authors memories focus on the first 14 years of her life, beginning with idyllic summers spent in her mothers homeland of Cuba and ending during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and subsequent travel ban. Engle captures the heart of a quiet, young girl torn between two cultures. This historical memoir/love poem to Cuba couldnt be more timely. With the recent easing of relations with Cuba, teachers can use the text as an accessible entry point into the history behind this very current event. And while the narrative unfolds over 50 years ago, Engles experiences will still resonate with adolescents and teens today. Any child who has felt like an outsider will recognize themselves in Margaritas tale. When the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and everyones focus shifted, the author was left confused, empty and unfulfilled by her schools seemingly senseless focus on what felt like irrelevant historical events. What American child with ties to a country experiencing turmoil couldnt relate to the lingering after-effects of far off events in our era of two-minute news bytes? VERDICT: A more than worthwhile purchase for any library in need of a universally applicable coming-of-age tale, a fantastic new memoir-in-verse, or a glimpse into Cubas past." - School Library Journal, May 2015, STARRED REVIEW* "Poet and novelist Engle has won a Newbery Honor, the Pura Belpr Award, and the Amricas Award, among others. This time she brings readers her own childhood. Employing free verse, she narrates growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s and early '60s torn by her love of two countries: the United States, where she was born and raised, and Cuba, where her mother was from and where she spent vacations visiting family. Woven into the fabric of her childhood is the anxiety of deteriorating relations between the two countries as the Cuban revolution takes place, affecting both her family and the two countries at large. Though it is a very personal story, it is also one that touches on issues affecting so many immigrants. As so many of our children are immigrants or children of immigrants, we need more of these stories, especially when they are as beautiful. Seller Inventory # DADAX148143523X
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