Reviews: Two historical fiction novels-in-verse by the same author

This year as part of my role as a Cybils judge for the Poetry division I, and the other judges in the same division, are also evaluating novels-in-verse as a separate category. I was pretty excited about this prospect since I am very familiar with this type of YA novel from my time as a teen librarian. I was always on the hunt for new and excellent novels-in-verse for my voracious readers who got hooked on the format by reading books like Crank (Hopkins), Shout (Anderson),  The Crossover (Alexander), and many others. I didn't have much luck getting my readers to move over and read memoirs-in-verse, though there were so many excellent ones to choose from. My favorites were Black Girl Dreaming (Woodson), How I Discovered Poetry (Nelson), and Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings by Margarita Engle. Of the three memoirs I liked Engle's best not because of her story but because I thought her poetry was the best. Heck, in my opinion, if I read a novel/memoir-in-verse I expect good poetry or the author might as well have written in prose.

Imagine my delight when I found two of Margarita Engle's historical fiction novels-in-verse on our list to evaluate: Rima's Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny -- about the suffrage movement in Cuba and a brave young heroine -- and Singing with Elephants -- incorporating information about the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriela Mistral, into a fictional story about a young writer who helps save an elephant baby. I'd say by the length of each book, under 200 pages, and the age of the protagonists, that both books are targeted at middle grade students, 5-8th grades.

In Rima's Rebellion a young girl, Rima, lives with her mother and grandmother on land owned by a wealthy man, her father. She is his illegitimate daughter (called natural children), which means she cannot have his last name, cannot inherit any of his wealth, and it makes her subject to all kinds of bullying from people in the community and the church, often being shunned by them. In addition, during this time period (1930s and before) Cuba had an archaic adultery law where the women caught in the sexual act could be killed, but not the men! Rima, her mother, and her famous grandmother all joined the rebellion to fight for the vote for women (suffrage) while at the same time fighting for social changes to remove these archaic laws. Change takes a long time and the story occurs over almost a decade, though women had been fighting for the right to vote much longer than this. When the women finally won the right to vote in 1934 they weren't actually allowed to vote until 1936. 

Rima is trained as a typesetter and ultimately works at publishing subversive poetry flyers and books. Here is an example from page 126:

When poets start asking for me as their favorite

typesetter, I feel flattered but confused -- why me?

Because of my name, is the universal answer: Rima.

They think of me as a walking, living, breathing

rhyme!

Singing with Elephants, the second book Engle published in 2022, is a charming story about a young girl, Oriol, who recently moved from her beloved Cuba. She wants to become a writer but has to work at her parent's veterinary clinic. One day Oriol happens to strike up a conversation with a new neighbor and tells her about her desire to become a writer. The neighbor, who is later identified as Gabriela Mistral, a famous Latin American poet and humanitarian, offers to help Oriol. Here is a poem about Oriol's gratitude toward her new teacher, from page 99:

Ode to My Poetry Teacher

courage

is a dance of words

on paper

as graceful as an elephant

the size of love

gracias

thank you

for metaphors

and similes

vowel rhymes

counted lines

and flowing ones

free verse

and formal

wild

natural

musical

me

Oriol shares with Ms. Mistral about the pregnant elephant, Chandra, that her parents are tending and how she is on baby-watch with the rest of the family. During her time with the elephant, Oriol learns that the breed sings or hums as one of their forms of communication. This aspect of the story was so beautiful to me. After the birth Oriol writes a poem about the experience, from page 121:

Dreams of Humming

Chandra's language come back

while I'm asleep, all the hmmmms

that sounded as if she were

pleading with the air

to transform

her pain

into music.

New life

from ancient,

she seemed to announce

inside the dream world

where words

are not needed.

I am not an expert on all the poetic forms but I do know good poetry when I read/feel it. That is how I know that Margarita Engle is a wonderful poet and her novels-in-verse are so excellent. I especially loved the poetry in Singing with Elephants.

-Anne