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

The Surrender Tree: Poems Struggle for Freedom

By: Margarita Engle

Engle, M. (2008). The surrender tree: Poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom. New York: Henry Holt.

Summary:

Engle has created a beautiful historical fiction story chronicling Cuba's struggle for independence through the use of narrative poetry. The poems center around Rosa, a natural healer but sometimes thought of as a witch. Each poem is told in first person from a different character and demonstrating both sides of the revolution. It flows from character to character seamlessly telling how Rosa learned as a young girl how to use plants for healing and eventually, as she escaped from slave hood, became a nurse during the wars for Cuba's independence from the Spaniards. As Rosa becomes an adult, she marries Jose and they nurse the wounded and ill together. As they struggle through life, hoping for their home's Independence and peace, Rosa is being hunted by a soldier she calls Lieutenant Death. Lieutenant Death wants Rosa dead because she has helped the injured on both sides of the war and she is so good at slipping away from sight at the perfect moments. The book is sectioned into five parts and it makes it easier to see the time lapses between each point. You feel for Rosa and Jose and their true compassion for life. You almost hope that it ends better for them than the way we know it ends in real life.

Response:

Great for grades 6th on up. Although this book is technically a historical fiction story, it is riddled with true facts and information. The characters are fictional but the depictions of war and the struggles and strife that people went through are all real. the poems mention Roosevelt's "Rough Rider" and even Clara Barton. Engle even provides additional information at the end of the story with her own personal connection to Cuba and a timeline of actual events. Engle does not simply tell you about the wars but humanizes every inch of them. Reading and Social Studies teachers should add this too their curriculum as a way to look at not just financial strains and the who won what; but to identify and analyze the impact war has on people. Writing teachers can have students read this and then write about what it truly means to be free.