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Title: The Surrender Tree
Author: Margarita Engle
Publication:Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (April 1, 2008)
ISBN: 978-0805086744
Grade Level: 7-12
Awards: 2009 Pura Bulpre Award, 2009 Newbery Award Honor Book
Summary: Through a series of poems the story of Cuba’s Wars for Independence, spanning from 1850-1899, are told through the eyes of Rosa ” La Bayomesa”, the girl-witch/healer who would be come the first woman to be given full military honors at her death.
Comments: Engle proffers a lyrical introduction to pre-Victorian era Cuban history, a history that is often overlooked in American review – the Spanish-American War being one of those “lesser” wars that don’t get much attention. The same could be said for the Korean War.
Each poem reflects on the pain of slavery, the weariness of continued war, and the hope for peace. It is especially interesting to contrast the abolition of slavery in Cuba to that of America and how Cuba’s imperialistic history led to its current government. This kind of insight is usually lost when the subject of Cuba begins in 1950.
Georgia Performance Standards:
ELA8RC1 The student reads a minimum of 25 grade-level appropriate books or book equivalents (approximately 1,000,000 words) per year from a variety of subject disciplines. The student reads both informational and fictional texts in a variety of genres and modes of discourse, including technical texts related to various subject areas.
ELA9RC1 The student reads a minimum of 25 grade-level appropriate books or book equivalents (approximately 1,000,000 words) per year from a variety of subject disciplines. The student reads both informational and fictional texts in a variety of genres and modes of discourse, including technical texts related to various subject areas.
The student identifies and analyzes elements of poetry and provides evidence from the text to support understanding; the student:
a. Identifies, responds to, and analyzes the effects of diction, syntax, sound, form, figurative language, and structure of poems as these elements relate to meaning.
i. sound: alliteration, end rhyme, internal rhyme, consonance, assonance
ii. form: lyric poem, narrative poem, fixed form poems (i.e., ballad, sonnet)
iii. figurative language: personification, imagery, metaphor, simile, synecdoche, hyperbole, symbolism
ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.
SSWH15 The student will be able to describe the impact of industrialization, the rise of nationalism, and the major characteristics of worldwide imperialism.
SSUSH14 The student will explain America’s evolving relationship with the world at the turn of the twentieth century.
b. Describe the Spanish-American War, the war in the Philippines, and the debate over American expansionism.
Extensions:
- Have students write an epilogue for Sylvia based on the known history of Cuba at the turn of the century.
- Have students discuss the intersection of race and class and how that differed in Cuba’s War of Independence and the Civil War.
This is one of those rare titles that I fear most professionals will miss. Thanks so much for including it in your database. You are correct in noting that historical insight has been ignored. I always welcome discovering new titles that cause me to say, “Well, I never knew that!”