The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle

Engle, Margarita. The Poet Slave of Cuba. Unabridged ed. Detroit: Listening Library (Audio), 2009. Print.

The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle is a collection of poems about the life of Juan Francisco Manzano. Margarita Engle creates a great book of poems by taking the perspective of the people in Juan's life and telling his biography through those perspectives. Juan Francisco Manzano was a Cuban boy who was completely mistreated by the woman of the house who does not appreciate him and only uses him for his talents of using words. The poems are written in a way that the reader must continue on reading. The poet does a great job of sharing this story of Juan Francisco Manzano's life through the various perspectives of people in his life and how they viewed him. There is a great range of emotions that keep the reader interested.

Resources:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/cuba/
This cite gives students an opportunity to learn some information on Cuba in order to better understand what it would have been like to live in Cuba as a child.

http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=2435&a=1
This cite is a place students can visit and hear the author talk about her book and how she went about writing it. She also reads a portion of the poetry so the students can hear how she would read it.

Vocabulary:
slave, verse

Before reading:
Students should do some research on Cuba in 1797 in order to understand what life was like in Cuba at that time. Otherwise, students may assume that life in Cuba was just like life is today.

Writing Acitivity:
Based upon the poems that tell the biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, students will write a report in paragraph form that also tells his life story. This will make sure that the students are understanding what the poems are telling about his life.