Hurricane Dancers (YA)

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. Margarita Engle. 2011. Henry Holt. 160 pages.

Historical setting: Spanish ships reached the western Caribbean Sea in 1492, searching for Asia and spices. Instead, the explorers found peaceful islanders, and enslaved them. By 1510, the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica had been conquered. Only Cuba, the largest Caribbean isle, was still free. It was a time of hurricanes on an island of hope.

If you're a fan of Margarita Engle, then you're going to want to read one of her latest verse novels, Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. I have read and enjoyed so very many of her verse novels in the past that when I hear of a new one, I get a little thrill. Her work is something that I just look forward to. I have found her historical verse novels set in Cuba to be so good, so fascinating, so amazing. Hurricane Dancers did not disappoint. Though I'm not sure it is my favorite, favorite. (I don't think I could name a favorite, by the way.)

So Hurricane Dancers has five narrators: Quebrado (our main hero), Bernandino de Talavera (one of our villains), Alonso de Ojeda (another of our villains), Narido and Caucubu (a young couple madly in love with one another, but their parents don't approve).

Quebrado

I listen
to the song
of creaking planks,
the roll and sway
of clouds in sky,
wild music
and thunder,
the groans
of wood,
a mourning moan
as this old ship
remembers
her true self,
her tree self,
rooted 
and growing,
alive,
on shore.

Read Hurricane Dancers

If you're a fan of Margarita Engle
If you're looking for a good book set in Cuba in the sixteenth century
If you're a fan of verse novels
If you're a fan of historical fiction
If you're looking for a good multicultural book
If you're looking to read a Pura Belpre Honor Book
If you're looking for a good coming-of-age story

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Dollhouse Magic (MG)

The Dollhouse Magic. Yona Zeldis McDonough. Illustrated by Diane Palmisciano. 2000. Henry Holt. 86 pages.


Of all the streets in town, Lila and Jane Finney like Cheshire the very best. It's not because of the large old oaks whose spreading branches arch and nearly meet in the air, creating, in spring and summer, a most beguiling canopy overhead. Nor is it the well-tended flower beds, though these are filled with an ongoing seasonal display: tulips and daffodils in spring; roses, lilies, and marigolds in summer; asters and mums in the fall. It is not even because of the way the street ends in a lush, grassy circle, in the center of which is a handsomely carved old stone fountain. No, as attractive as all these things are, what Lila and Jane love most is a house on Cheshire Street, a three-story dollhouse with real clapboard siding and a cedar shingle roof that sits in Miss Amanda Whitcomb's front window. 

It all depends on your expectations. On what you want this one to be. Is that fair to a book? Well, I'm not sure it is. But it's one of those things that just happens naturally.

So The Dollhouse Magic is historical fiction for young readers. (I'm thinking second to fourth graders, though that all depends on reading levels of course.) The Dollhouse Magic is set during the Great Depression (1930s). Readers are introduced to two sisters, Lila and Jane, there are other siblings in the family, but Lila and Jane are the stars of this one. The book is about their "adventures" visiting Miss Amanda Whitcomb's dollhouse. It definitely IS an adventure for them. It's quite a thrill to be allowed to play with this dollhouse, to look at all the furniture and dolls. And the dollhouse is perhaps the main attraction at the beginning, but, the two do become very friendly with this old woman. They enjoy the treats she shares. Perhaps they don't realize just how special she is...until...well, you can guess what happens next.

What I didn't quite like about The Dollhouse Magic is how manipulative it is. Yes, I know that people die. I know that is natural. And yes, I know that people even die on Christmas Eve. But. Why oh why oh why does it have to happen in this happy little book...especially without any warning. It's not like we see Miss Whitcomb getting weak or sick. It just didn't seem fair or right.

I would have HATED this ending as a kid. I would have. I'm not all that fond of it as an adult. So my question for you is this... if a character is going to die in a book, do you want some foreshadowing or hinting along the way? Do you want or need time to prepare? Or do you like being surprised? Should sad books come with warnings?

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews