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 and Company, LLC.  169 pages, $16.95

Cubans have been struggling and fighting for independence throughout the course of three wars but is still not free, and the people are suffering horribly.  Rosa knows how to heal using plants, but will she be able to help her people get what they really need?

This book tells about Cuba's wars and struggle for independence.  It chronicles the life of Rosa from when she was a little girl and first started learning how to make medicines from plants to help and heal people.  It is written in verse through the point of view of Rosa, her husband Jose, who helps her, Lieutenant Death, who has tried to capture Rosa almost their whole lives, and Silvia and other people who join them and want to help Cuba gain independence.  The poems tell of the struggle of the people and of how Rosa and Jose risk their lives to help heal and protect the people who have been wounded.  At one point they even help heal Lieutenant Death, realizing that what they did was risky, and Death not realizing until it was too late that he was so close to capturing them and getting a reward for their capture.  Rosa, Jose, and their helpers (who come from all walks of life) realize that what they're doing is dangerous, but the know what they have to do, and that is their main concern.  The title refers to the tree where Lieutenant Death and his followers put the limbs of people they have captured to intimidate and scare people into surrendering and not trying to fight back.  I think that this tree is what keeps Rosa, Jose, and their helpers from giving up and continue fighting for what they know is right and for independence.

It was a bit difficult to get used to this book because of how it's written:  in verse poems, but once I got used to it, I understood a little bit more about Cuba's struggle and fight for independence, and it was quite interesting.  In a way the history of it is told in narrative poetry form because it's told from the point of view of people who were involved in the war, and I think that's what gradually made it easy to follow and understand.  Poetry isn't usually the first genre I choose, and especially not something historical, but I learned a lot from this book.  I'm glad I stuck with it and gave it a chance. 

This book is a winner of the Pura Belpre Award and a Newbery Honor Book.  To read more about the author, Margarita Engle go to http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6640331.html or http://us.macmillan.com/author/margaritaengle.  You will also see other books she has written, which include The Firefly Letters, The Poet Slave of Cuba, and Hurricane Dancers.