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    The Poet Slave of Cuba

    Author Margarita Engle
    Read by Yesenia Cabrero, Chris Nunez, Ozzie Rodriguez, Roberto Santana
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    Audio | Listening Library
    On sale May 12, 2009 | 2 Hours and 5 Minutes | 9780307583062
    Grade 7 & Up
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    Together we belonged
    along with countless others
    human beasts of burden
    to the proud Marquesa . . .

    Juan Francisco Manzano has never known any other life. Born into the household of a wealthy slaveowner in Cuba in 1797, he spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mamá, 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.

    In powerful, haunting verses of her own, Margarita Engle evokes the voice of the Poet Slave of Cuba.
    Margarita Engle (she/her) is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and Forest World. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl; Dancing Hands; and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.  View titles by Margarita Engle

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    Together we belonged
    along with countless others
    human beasts of burden
    to the proud Marquesa . . .

    Juan Francisco Manzano has never known any other life. Born into the household of a wealthy slaveowner in Cuba in 1797, he spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mamá, 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.

    In powerful, haunting verses of her own, Margarita Engle evokes the voice of the Poet Slave of Cuba.

    Author

    Margarita Engle (she/her) is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and Forest World. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl; Dancing Hands; and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.  View titles by Margarita Engle

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