Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics

by Margarita Engle, Rafael López (Illustrator)

Overview

Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot—the Latinos featured in Bravo!, from author Margarita Engle and illustrator Rafael López, come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds.

Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history and a community that continues to evolve and thrive today!

Biographical poems include: Aida de Acosta, Arnold Rojas, Baruj Benacerraf, César Chávez, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Félix Varela, George Meléndez, José Martí, Juan de Miralles, Juana Briones, Julia de Burgos, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Paulina Pedroso, Pura Belpré, Roberto Clemente, Tito Puente, Ynes Mexia, Tomás Rivera.

Bravo! también está disponible en edición en español.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250156044
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	96 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet, novelist, and journalist. She writes picture, middle grade, and young adult nonfiction books and novels in verse, including the Newbery Honor Book The Surrender Tree and the Pura Belpré Honor Books The Firefly Letters and Hurricane Dancers.

Rafael López He has illustrated many award-winning books, including Book Fiesta! by Pat Mora; Tito Puente Mambo King, by Monica Brown; and The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha Vamos.

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books, including The Surrender Tree, All the Way to Havana, Bravo!, Drum Dream Girl, and Dancing Hands. Awards include a Newbery Honor, Pura Belpré Medals, Golden Kite Award, Walter Honor, Jane Addams Award, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt Prize, among others. Margarita served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Recent young adult verse novels include Wings in the Wild and Wild Dreamers. Recent picture books include Water Day and The Sculptors of Light.

Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California.


www.margaritaengle.com
Facebook: Margarita Engle
Twitter: @margaritapoet
Instagram: @engle.margarita

Rafael López is a New York Times bestselling, award winning illustrator who was born and raised in Mexico City to architect parents. His illustrations bring diverse characters to children's books and he is driven to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people. He is the recipient of 3 Pura Belpré medals, the Schneider Family Book Award, Jane Addams Book Award, and Tomas Rivera Book Award, as well as the illustrator of 3 New York Times bestsellers. He was the first guest artist of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2022. López is a founder of the Urban Art Trail movement in San Diego's East Village, creating a series of large-scale murals that brought the community together. Rafael lives and works in an industrial loft in Downtown San Diego and at his home/studio in the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2017
Eighteen Hispanic individuals from diverse professional and personal backgrounds are honored in Engle’s plainspoken free-verse poems, written from each person’s perspective. “I struggled to become a teacher/ and a poet, so I could use words/ to fight for equal rights for women,” explains Puerto Rican activist Julia de Burgos, while George Meléndez Wright, the first chief of the National Park Service’s wildlife division, speaks to his environmental passions: “Let us save rare species/ before it is too late!” López (who illustrated Engle’s Dream Drum Girl) creates bold, dramatic portraits of the subjects, which include José Martí, Pura Belpré, Tito Puente, and César Chávez. Capsule biographies are a welcome supplement to the poems, which don’t always fully contextualize the figures on their own. A Spanish-language edition is available simultaneously. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Michelle Humphrey, Martha Kaplan Agency. Illustrator’s agency: Full Circle Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Lopez's bright portraits of notable Hispanics have the large scale and graphic discipline of poster art, while Engle manages to compress the sweep of a biography into a sharp, compact free-verse poem about each life, from childhood on. Some are famous [...] All faced challenges [...] and made lasting contributions." —New York Times Book Review on Bravo!

"this book is a welcome addition to schools and libraries, as it expands the canon of historically significant individuals in the United States in such a lyrical and aesthetically pleasing manner." —School Library Journal, starred review, on Bravo!

"This book features the lives of a variety of Latinos who faced life's challenges with aplomb and in their own ways. . . each person is stunningly portrayed in López's strong and vibrant style; opposite is a first-person biographical poem that provides a glimpse into its subject's life." —Kirkus Reviews on Bravo!

"López (who illustrated Engle’s Drum Dream Girl) creates bold, dramatic portraits of the subjects, which include José Martí, Pura Belpré, Tito Puente, and César Chávez. Capsule biographies are a welcome supplement to the poems" —Publishers Weekly on Bravo!


The Poet Slave of Cuba:

"An absolutely lovely book . . . that should be read by young and old, black and white, Anglo and Latino." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Readers will hear the stories—and never forget them." —Booklist, starred review

"The moving poetry and finely crafted story will draw readers in and leave them in tears and in awe." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2017
Gr 4–7—Engle highlights 18 Latinxs from a range of ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin, all of whom lived in what is now the United States or its territories. Each person made a positive impact on U.S. history, and although some are not well-known, their contributions warrant an important place in the U.S. collective cultural knowledge. Engle's masterly first-person poems capture the essence of each individual, while notes about each figure at the end provide context to spur curiosity and further research. Additionally, the final celebratory poem features an additional 22 contemporary Latinxs in a crescendo to the present, ending with applause: "¡Bravo!" The pairing of these biographical poems with López's distinctive artwork leaves a lasting visual impression, as the subjects, surrounded by images representing their vocations, look readers straight in the eye or are totally absorbed in their work. These full-page illustrations serve as bold counterparts to the poems. VERDICT Although lacking specific source notes for student readers and writers, this book is a welcome addition to schools and libraries, as it expands the canon of historically significant individuals in the United States in such a lyrical and aesthetically pleasing manner.—Ruth Quiroa, National Louis University, Chicago, IL

School Library Journal

2016-12-06
This book features the lives of a variety of Latinos who faced life's challenges with aplomb and in their own ways. Celebrated Cuban-American author Engle presents the lives of some well-known Latinos such as the musician Tito Puente, labor union organizer César Chávez, and National Baseball Hall of Fame player Roberto Clemente. Others are not as familiar to children today but still left their marks on our country: Father Félix Varela, who became an advocate of equal rights for Irish immigrants; Paulina Pedroso, who openly defied racial segregation; Aída de Acosta, who flew a dirigible six months before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane; and George Meléndez Wright, first chief of the National Parks Wildlife Division and a renowned conservationist. Given his close association with Cuba rather than the United States, the inclusion of poet José Martí is puzzling. Each one of the 18 people presented is awarded a double-page spread. On one page each person is stunningly portrayed in López's strong and vibrant style; opposite is a first-person biographical poem that provides a glimpse into its subject's life. At the end of the book the author has included a brief biographical note about each, yet between poem and note readers may find they are left with a large information gap. A further list of other outstanding Latinos is also included. An unusually slight offering from an author whose work is usually so compelling. (Picture book/biography/poetry. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews