Full name: The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano

Author: Margarita Engle Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Poetry, Biographies Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780805077063 9780312659288 0805077065

A lyrical biography of a Cuban slave who escaped to become a celebrated poet. Born into the household of a wealthy slave owner in Cuba in 1797, Juan Francisco Manzano spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mama, even though he had a mama of his own. Denied an education, young Juan still showed an exceptional talent for poetry. His verses reflect the beauty of his world, but they also expose its hideous cruelty. Powerful, haunting poems and breathtaking illustrations create a portrait of a life in which even the pain of slavery could not extinguish the capacity for hope. The Poet Slave of Cuba is the winner of the 2008 Pura Belpre Medal for Narrative and a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. Latino Interest. Similar books: Screams from the Balcony by Charles Bukowski Book of Sketches by Jack Kerouac Langston Hughes by Alice Walker Shakespeare Never Did This by Charles Bukowski A River of Words by Jen Bryant Lives of the Poets by Michael Schmidt Woolgathering by Patti Smith The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson The Complete Poems by Elizabeth Bishop Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost Crush by Richard Siken Citizen by Claudia Rankine Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell In My Head by J. M. Storm I Heard God Laughing by Hafiz Devotions by Mary Oliver Thirst by Mary Oliver Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver A Poet's Glossary by Edward Hirsch