The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

Engle, M. (2008). The surrender tree: poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom. New York: Henry Holt.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8674-4
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8674-9
169 pgs
Format: Book
Genre: War/Conflict
Classification: Poetry
Age level: Young Adult

Reader's annotation
This collection of free verse poetry captures a variety of experiences in Cuba in the late 1800’s as a series of wars for independence from Spain ravaged the population. Told from several different voices, including a freed slave and the son of a slave hunter, this book brings insight into a Cuban struggle that is often overlooked in history books.

Summary
The Surrender Tree is a book of minimal, free verse poems told from several different points of view and set in the second half of the 1800’s in Cuba. During this time Cuba was experiencing ongoing wars with Spain, known as the three Cuban wars for independence, and life was often marked by hunger and illness. One narrator is a 19th Century Cuban healer named Rosa, a freed slave who nurses runaway soldiers and slaves in caves far away from the dangerous reconcentraton camps. Other characters are Jose, Rosa’s husband, also a freed slave and Silvia, a young refugee that Rosa is teaching to be a healer by using wild herbs and flowers. Another character, known as Lieutenant Death, is a soldier and the son of a slave hunter. The descriptions of Cuba are fascinating; the magical natural environment is starkly contrasted with the brutality of slavery. The book brings alive a very distinctive and little known time in history with its detailed descriptions and themes of colonialism and slavery.

Notes
The free verse style wonderfully captures the emotion of the Cuban wars for independence but be aware that there are some graphic descriptions of violence.

Awards and honors
Newbery Honor Award, 2009
Pura Belpre Author Award, 2009

Also by Margarita Engle
The Poet Slaves of Cuba, which was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Bank Street College of Education Best Book, and a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book