Podcast appearances and mentions of Margarita Engle

Host Jason Blitman sits down with debut novelist Lucas Schaefer to discuss The Slip, diving into themes of identity, self-expression, and the inspiration behind the book. They explore Lucas's personal experiences at a boxing gym, the real-life mentor who shaped one of his characters, and what led to the end of his theater career. Later, Jason is joined by Guest Gay Reader Mike Curato (Gaysians), who shares what he's currently reading and reflects on the significance of chosen family and representation in his latest work.Lucas Schaefer lives with his family in Austin. The Slip is his first novel.Mike Curato is the author and illustrator of the children's book series Little Elliot. He has also illustrated What If… by Samantha Berger, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, The Power of One written by Trudy Ludwig, If I Were a Fish by Corook and Olivia Barton, and contributed to What's Your Favorite Color? by Eric Carle and Friends, Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song, and Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love. Publishers Weekly named Mike a “Fall 2014 Flying Start.” In the same year he won the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Founder's Award. Mike's debut young adult graphic novel, Flamer, was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Young Adult and the 2021 Massachusetts Book Award for Middle Grade/Young Adult. Gaysians is his adult debut. SUBSTACK!https://gaysreading.substack.com/ MERCH!http://gaysreading.printful.me PARTNERSHIP!Use code READING to get 15% off your madeleine order! https://cornbread26.com/ BOOK CLUB!Use code GAYSREADING at checkout to get first book for only $4 + free shipping! Restrictions apply.http://aardvarkbookclub.com WATCH!https://youtube.com/@gaysreading FOLLOW!Instagram: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanBluesky: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanCONTACT!hello@gaysreading.com

Based on the novel by Margarita Engle, the Vortex's play ‘Lion Island' is about navigating a tense colonial world. Actors Daniel Lucero and Hector Corona share insight and a scene reenactment! Performances will be held at the Wells Fargo Theatre at the NHCC on April 4, 5, 11, and 12 at 7:30 pm, with matinees on April 6 and 13 at 1:00 pm. Based on true events, Lion Island follows Antonio Chuffat, a young Afro-Cuban-Chinese boy growing up in 19th-century Cuba, who finds himself at the crossroads of multiple cultures and social movements. The story illuminates the struggles and triumphs of immigrants and activists in the face of oppression, offering audiences a deeply moving exploration of history and human courage.

Cuba, 2018. Soleida, 16, is growing up in a place where art is illegal and sea levels are rising. Her family of artists hides their sculpture garden, but it's discovered during a hurricane which leads to the arrest of her parents leaving Soleida on her own. She ends up in a Costa Rican refugee camp where she meets Dariel, a Californian, who endures all too frequent wildfires. Together they want to find her parents, protect the environment, and explore the budding romance, until Soleida discovers he's a rich boy with famous parents who will never understand a girl like her. Transcript here

Rhody Recommends brings you a short segment on our off weeks where we tell you what we're reading, watching, and listening to. Everything you hear about in this segment is available at your local library, or freely available online. Today we're featuring members of the Rhode Island Latino Books Award committee sharing some highlights from this year's . Voting is open through May 31st, so be sure to help the kids in grades K-12 in your life check out these titles and vote for their favorite to win! Featured in this Episode: A Song of Frutas by Margarita Engle and Sara Palacios Coquí in the City by Nomar Perez Just Help! By Sonia Sotomayor and Angela Dominquez Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson Time Villains by Victor Piñeiro The Insiders by Mark Oshiro Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez Learn more about the Rhode Island Latino Books Award --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rhodyradio/message

There is a common hurdle for many first generation immigrants: feeling out of place. Whether that's in school, speaking a different language, or living through parents' expectations. Today: two books about overcoming those feelings of inadequacy. First, Simu Liu, Marvel's first Asian superhero, discusses his memoir We Were Dreamers, where he talks about his complicated relationship with his parents and what he calls his "immigrant superhero origin story." Then, Cuban-American author Margarita Engle explores what it's like to be an outsider as a bilingual speaker and the creative freedom she found in writing Spanish without italics in her book.

Hear about four books for young readers to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month (9/15-10/15), plus a balloon workshop and family game nights, from Carol Roberts, head of Young People's Services at Troy Public Library. "Diamond Park" (Phillippe Diederich, 2022), a fictional tale of three teens trying to clear a friend of murder charges in Mexico, explores the complexities of Latinx culture. "Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music" (Margarita Engle, 2015) captures the true story of a Cuban girl who became a world-class drummer with poetic writing and beautiful illustrations. In "Maya and the Beast" (2022) Maya Gabeira tells her own story of becoming a world-class surfer in Brazil. "Abuelita and I Make Flan" (Adriana Hernandez, 2022) is a picture book for younger readers about a girl and her grandmother cooking together. The Library sponsors family games nights every Monday evening, and will be hosting a balloon "twisting" workshop on 10/10 open to ages 7-17. For details, visit thetroyllibrary.org. Produced by Brea Barthel for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

There is a common hurdle for many first generation immigrants: feeling out of place. Whether that's in school, speaking a different language, or living through parents' expectations. Today: two books about overcoming those feelings of inadequacy. First, Simu Liu, Marvel's first Asian superhero, discusses his memoir We Were Dreamers, where he talks about his complicated relationship with his parents and what he calls his "immigrant superhero origin story." Then, Cuban-American author Margarita Engle explores what it's like to be an outsider as a bilingual speaker and the creative freedom she found in writing Spanish without italics in her book.

Just Keep Swimming! Questions for Classroom Discussion: What is a mindset? What does it mean to have a fixed mindset? What does it mean to have a growth mindset? Why is it important to celebrate failures? What is a mantra you can repeat to yourself when you struggle or fail? (Example: Keep Moving Forward) Great Classroom Read-Aloud Books: “What Do You Do With a Chance?” by Kobi Yamada “Jabari Jumps” by Gaia Cornwall “The Book of Mistakes” by Corinna Luyken “My Strong Mind: A Story About Developing Mental Strength” by Niels Van Hove “When Sophie Thinks She Can't…” by Molly Bang “I Can't Do That, YET” by Esther Cordova “How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers “Whistle for Willie” by Ezra Jack Keats “Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle” by Chris Raschka “Flight School” by Lita Judge “A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin” by Jen Bryant “Rosie Revere Engineer” by Andrea Beaty “Emmanuel's Dream” by Laurie Ann Thompson “Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Change Music” by Margarita Engle and Rafael Lopez “Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin” by Chiere Uegaki “Ruby's Wish” by Shirin Yim Bridges Activities for the Classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUJkbWNnNy4 Have students brainstorm a list of growth mindset statements. Choose one of the statements to adopt as your class motto. Have students design posters to display. Create a cheer or chant to say the mantra when a task is difficult! Free Growth Mindset Printable Coloring Sheet! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Growth-Mindset-Coloring-Sheets-3329026?st=8ac71a43770e39ae81c9fa3393ac7638 Free Growth Mindset Motivational Posters: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Growth-Mindset-Motivational-Posters-3339728?st=8ac71a43770e39ae81c9fa3393ac7638 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/selfive/message

Margarita Engle, the celebrated author and poet who calls the Central Valley home, published two new books in 2021. The first, “Your Heart, My Sky,” is a young adult novel written in verse. The second is a children's picture book titled “A Song of Frutas.” Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with her about how both books were inspired by her Cuban-American heritage.

On this week's Valley Edition: An effort to change how Native American students, and their histories, are understood in California's schools. Plus, the Newbery Award winning author who calls the Valley home releases two new children's books. And the city of Taft's celebration of black gold: Oildorado. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.

Margarita Engle, the celebrated author and poet who calls the Central Valley home, published two new books in 2021. The first, “Your Heart, My Sky,” is a young adult novel written in verse. The second is a children's picture book titled “A Song of Frutas.” Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with her about how both books were inspired by her Cuban-American heritage.

On this week's Valley Edition: An effort to change how Native American students, and their histories, are understood in California's schools.

Join children's book authors  Rajani LaRocca and Artemis Roehrig as they talk to agronomist and Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle about Plants, Poetry, and Persistence. Books recommended on this episode:Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the WorldNancy Castaldo (Author)The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius RamanujanAmy Alznauer (Author)  Daniel Miyares (Illustrator)What's in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature's TreasuresHeather L. Montgomery (Author)  Maribel Lechuga (Illustrator)

This week Tayla is joined by Maria Cotto from the Pawtucket Public Library and Marta Martínez from RI Latino Arts to talk about Hispanic Heritage Month and the celebrations going on around RI this year. They discuss seeing themselves and their culture in books, America's Got Talent, and StoryCorp. During The Last Chapter they discuss: What author alive or dead would you like to meet? Like what you hear? Rate and review Down Time on Apple Podcasts or your podcast player of choice! If you'd like to submit a topic for The Last Chapter you can send your topic suggestions to downtime@cranstonlibrary.org. Our theme music is Day Trips by Ketsa and our ad music is Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes. Thanks for listening! Books A Song of Frutas by Margarita Engle & Sara Palacios Child of the Flower-Song People by Gloria Amescua & Duncan Tonatiuh Small Room, Big Dreams by Monica Brown & Mirelle Ortega Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros Martita, I Remember You by Sandra Cisneros A Sled for Gabo by Emma Otheguy & Ana Ramírez González How to Fold a Taco | Cómo Doblar un Taco by Naibe Reynoso & Ana Varela Adelita and the Veggie Cousins by Diane Gonzales Bertrand & Christina Rodriguez Planting Stories by Anika Aldamuy Denise and Paola Escobar AV America's Got Talent (2006- ) Only Murders in the Building (2021- ) StoryCorps (podcast) Other Rhode Island Latino Arts | Arte Latino de Rhode Island Rhode Island Latino Books Award REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking Feria del Libro y las Artes de Providence 2021 Hispanic Heritage Month La Galería del Pueblo @ RI Latino Arts

Told in verse and using the folk hero Rosa la Bayamesa, acclaimed poet Margarita Engle gives us another gripping, breathtaking account of a tumultuous period in Cuban history. (from the publisher) This title is intended for tweens and is suitable for most audiences. Recorded with permission of Square Fish, an Imprint of Macmillan. Click here to see this title in the Houston Public Library catalog.

Andrea Grassi reads Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle

Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– The poem vaccine– Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic – Sortes Vergilianae– Poems are spells/Poetry is not magic– Margarita Engle's essay "The Care and Feeding of Poetry"– Snail sonnets are fine– Natural child poetry geniuses– Insulting tanka masters– Katherine Dunn's short story "The Resident Poet"– Kristen Roupenian's short story "Cat Person"– Millenial jerks vs. Boomer jerks– Naked poets in a thunderstorm– Bad sex with bad poets– The poetry lifestyle– Randall Jarrell– Plato's dialogue "Ion"– Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren's textbook Understanding Poetry – Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!"– "What is the author trying to say?" is a stupid question– Mainstream poetry is free verse poetry– Archibald MacLeish's poem "Ars Poetica"– Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poem "Halloween"– Philip Larkin's poem "An April Sunday"– Front yard cemeteries– A few real gods– End rhymes aren't intrinsically evilPlease rate, review, and subscribe!Send questions, comments, and suggestions to sleerickets@gmail.com. Or just go to matthewbuckleysmith.com and direct your hate mail straight to my personal inbox.Music by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith

Jess Zimmerman discusses debut essay collection ‘Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology’ (Beacon Press, March 9), “a sparkling and perceptive critique of ancient ideas that still hold women back” (starred review). Then our editors offer reading recommendations for the week, with books by María José Ferrada and María Elena Valdez (trans. by Lawrence Schimel), Margarita Engle, Mark Kurlansky, and Andrea Lee.

Jamie McGillen is a historical fiction author, English Professor and MilSpouse. She joins Behind The Service Podcast to discuss her book series. Her first novel In Sight of the Mountain was released in 2019, and the sequel In Light of the Summit will be available on January 15th, 2021. Her poems and essays have been published in Rust + Moth, Marathon Literary Review, The Raven Chronicles Journal, Avalon Literary Review, and Arcturus Literary Magazine. One of her poems was selected to be included in Thanku: Poems of Gratitude (Lerner/Millbrook, 2019). This amazingly diverse collection includes poems by Jane Yolen, Margarita Engle, and Naomi Shihab Nye.

Mike Curato is the award-winning author/illustrator of Little Elliot picture book series, as well as the illustrator of Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle. Mike tells Theo Baker about his career journey, what it took to get his portfolio ready, and how SCBWI changed everything.Support the show (http://scbwi.org/join-scbwi/)

Tula was one the most outspoken abolitionists in 19th century Cuba - a dangerous position to hold. This novel in verse explores her fight against injustice both in society and in her personal life. This title is intended for teens, however, it may contain language or themes that some readers may find offensive. Recorded with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Click here to see this title in the Houston Public Library catalog.

Today's podcast will be featuring a poem by Margarita Engle, “Kinship.” As I read this poem, I want you to think about your family, perhaps your family history. We all come from different places, cultures, religions, and people. What parts of your ancestry are you particularly proud of? Do you know where you come from? How does our ancestry contribute to who we are as a person? Keep these ideas in mind as I read. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Also, check out my hashtag msmreadytoread and follow me on Instagram at ms_martins_class for more writing into the day and fun lessons that are sure to engage you and your kiddos. Thanks for listening! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/writingintotheday/support

Books are door-shaped portals carrying me across oceans and centuries, helping me feel less alone. But my mother believes that girls who read too much are unladylike and ugly, so my father's books are locked in a clear glass cabinet. I gaze at enticing covers and mysterious titles, but I am rarely permitted to touch the enchantment of words. Poems. Stories. Plays. All are forbidden. Girls are not supposed to think, but as soon as my eager mind begins to race, free thoughts rush in to replace the trapped ones. I imagine distant times and faraway places. Ghosts. Vampires. Ancient warriors. Fantasy moves into the tangled maze of lonely confusion. Secretly, I open an invisible book in my mind, and I step through its magical door-shape into a universe of dangerous villains and breathtaking heroes. Many of the heroes are men and boys, but some are girls so tall strong and clever that they rescue other children from monsters.

"A while back, we gave you Kipling’s poem “If.” Well today, you have another job, to read some of Margarita Engle’s poem about books."Listen to the poem in today's Daily Dad Podcast, and find out why reading is so critical to kids and fathers both.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.comFollow @DailyDadEmail:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholiday

Margarita Engle (@margaritapoet) shares DREAMS FROM MANY RIVERS: A HISPANIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TOLD IN POEMS. Margarita blends voices of real people with fictionalized accounts in order to create a book of many voices and many experiences in order to represent hispanic history in the U.S. Choosing poetry as her vessel helped to make the history personal, bringing us closer to the characters and speaking to our present through moments of the past. It’s quite an exceptional work and I hope you’ll be equally moved when you read it, let alone from this conversation. Something that really stuck with me is Margarita’s reminder that we often fail to acknowledge the diversity within the diversity. DREAMS FROM MANY RIVERS does an outstanding job of doing exactly that through intimacy and a shared historical context.  You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/podcast. Thank you to this week's sponsor: Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons.

This week Seth, Rebecca, and Chrystal talk about their favorite books about defying stereotypical gender roles.  Show Notes: 00:59- I Love My Colorful Nails, by Alicia Acosta and Luis Amavisca 9:30- How Mamas Love their Babies,  by Juniper Fitzgerald 25:45- Is That For a Boy or a Girl, by S. Bear Bergman 29:03- Bug Bob, Little Bob, by Robb Pearlman 43:43- Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian, by Margarita Engle 48:34- The Boy and the Bindi, by Vivek Shraya   Find us on the web! Rad Child Podcast: www.radchildpodcast.com Facebook Twitter Instagram Contact us: radchildpodcast@gmail.com Be a guest Donate Buy Rad Merch Shift Book Box: https://www.shiftbookbox.com/ Facebook Instagram Twitter

Let's get up-to-date on plans for the podcast in 2020, including the introduction of Matthew In The Stacks, a brand new podcast available to Patrons. This show follows an ask-me-anything style format in which authors and illustrators submit questions they have about the libraries, librarians, and all things bookish. It’s a chance to turn the tables and for me to offer insight into how libraries work from the perspective of one school librarian. The episodes are about 10-minutes in length and they release on the 15th and 30th of every month exclusively on Patreon. The first two episodes are already up and I’m including one here for you to enjoy with a question submitted by Margarita Engle, renowned poet and children’s book author. She asks, “Are librarians aware that some authors are wounded by the phrase "weeding?" Is there a less demeaning word that could be used for removing our older books?” Enjoy listening! Visit our Patreon

Where we talk about: Your Shelf or Mine LIVE!; Hands on History; Winter at Orchard House;  2020 Reading Challenge ideas; Chinese Dragons by R.A. Montgomery; Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North; Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh; Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle;  and more!

This week, Liberty and Kelly discuss Tuesday Mooney Talks To Ghosts, The Grace Year, How We Fight for Our Lives, and more great books. This episode was sponsored Book Riot's Blind Date with a Book; Ritual Essential Vitamins for Women; and The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz, new from Algonquin Young Readers. Pick up an All the Books! 200th episode commemorative item here. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, iTunes, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Books discussed on the show: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones The Grace Year by Kim Liggett In the Hall with the Knife: A Clue Mystery, Book One by Diana Peterfreund Jackpot by Nic Stone The Furies by Katie Lowe Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry What we're reading: Birthday by Meredith Russo The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown More books out this week: Sudden Traveler: Stories by Sarah Hall Bat Basics: How to Understand and Help These Amazing Flying Mammals by Karen Krebbs Seven Crows by Kate Kessler What Is Missing: A Novel by Michael Frank A Bitter Feast: A Novel by Deborah Crombie The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy American Radicals: How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation by Holly Jackson Before the Devil Fell: A Novel by Neil Olson What I Lick Before Your Face ... and Other Haikus By Dogs by Jamie Coleman The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Féret-Fleury Cats Are a Liquid by Rebecca Donnelly and Misa Saburi Avidly Reads Making Out by Kathryn Bond Stockton I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita, Jessica Hagedorn (translator) Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds A Punk Rock Future edited by Steve Zisson The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer The Girl At the Door by Veronica Raimo, Stash Luczkiw (Translator) Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political on Rivers of the New West by Zak Podmore A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by John Hornor Jacobs Watershed by Mark Barr The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey Animal (Bagley Wright Lecture Series) by Dorothea Lasky Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo The Remaking: A Novel by Clay Chapman The Oracle of Cumae by Melissa Hardy A Savage Dreamland: Journeys in Burma by David Eimer Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones by Daniel Mendelsohn The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2) by Philip Pullman The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice by Vanessa Brown This Way to Departures by Linda Mannheim Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems by Margarita Engle and Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez Who Says You're Dead?: Medical & Ethical Dilemmas for the Curious & Concerned by Jacob M. Appel MD Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes Collateral Damage (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by David Mack Faker by Sarah Smith Rerun Era by Joanna Howard Symphony No. 3 by Chris Eaton Remember by Patricia Smith Burn It Down: Women Writing about Anger by Lilly Dancyger Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou Half/Life: New & Selected Poems by Jeffrey Thomson Rogue Heart by Axie Oh The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh Salt Slow by Julia Armfield Infused: Adventures in Tea by Henrietta Lovell Blood Sugar by Daniel Kraus Marley by Jon Clinch Heart of the Moors: An Original Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Novel by Holly Black Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan False Bingo: Stories by Jac Jemc Wham!, George Michael and Me: A Memoir by Andrew Ridgeley Ghosts of Berlin: Stories by Rudolph Herzog, Emma Rault (translator) Here Until August: Stories by Josephine Rowe Grand Union: Stories by Zadie Smith Bodega: Poems by Su Hwang The Hadley Academy for the Improbably Gifted: A Novel by Conor Grennan and Alessandro Valdrighi Metropolitan Stories: A Novel by Christine Coulson Horror Stories: A Memoir by Liz Phair Erosion: Essays of Undoing by Terry Tempest Williams Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse: Book One of the Thorne Chronicles by K. Eason The Giver of Stars: A Novel by Jojo Moyes On Time: A Princely Life in Funk by Morris Day (Author), David Ritz (Contributor) The Envious Siblings: and Other Morbid Nursery Rhymes by Landis Blair Older Brother by Mahir Guven, Tina Kover (translator) Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011–2019 (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) by Natasha Stagg Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell The Penguin Book of Mermaids by Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown 25 Days 'Til Christmas: A Novel by Poppy Alexander  

Podcast #058 For my fifty-eighth Dream Gardens kid lit podcast, I interviewed author Padma Venkatraman about the verse memoirs Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings and Soaring Earth by Margarita Engle. Enchanted Air was published in 2015, followed by Soaring Earth in 2019.  Each details  Margarita’s experience immigrating to the US after the Cuban revolution of … Continue reading Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings; Soaring Earth – an interview with Padma Venkatraman → The post Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings; Soaring Earth – an interview with Padma Venkatraman appeared first on Dream Gardens.

Hey there, podcast listeners. Today, May 5th, some news was brought to my attention that relates to a recent episode of The Children’s Book Podcast. Author Junot Diaz faces sexual conduct allegations and an overwhelming number of women shared their own testimonies through the #metoo hashtag over the past 24 hours. Junot Diaz was featured on a recent episode of the podcast along with illustrator Leo Espinosa for ISLANDBORN, a picture book the did together. I have since removed that episode from the archive and updated the blog post promoting the episode to include this message. I, Matthew Winner, and The Children’s Book Podcast will not support the works of individuals accused of misogynistic acts, sexual predation, or any other offense against women. That behavior is intolerable and individuals recently or historically exhibiting that behavior are not welcome here.   I welcome you to listen to my conversations with some exceptional Latina authors and illustrators, including Juana Martinez Neal, Monica Brown, Margarita Engle and Emma Otheguy.   Thank you.

Kathleen Brown, University of Utah Reading Clinic director shares tips on teaching a child to read at an early age and poet Margarita Engle talks about the books she writes about over-looked heroes.

Samantha Berger is the best-selling picture book author of CRANKENSTEIN, SNOOZEFEST, and MARTHA DOESN'T SAY SORRY. Mike Curato is the author illustrator of the LITTLE ELLIOT series, and the illustrator of WORM LOVES WORM by JJ Austrian and ALL THE WAY TO HAVANA by Margarita Engle. They first picture book together is called WHAT IF... and it publishes on April 10, 2018. Sam and Mike are no strangers to this podcast, and I learn something new each time I talk to them. Today our conversation illuminated turning pain into art, the indomitable triumph of the human spirit and creativity, but one of the things I valued most was the emphasis on the truth that nothing can take away from you, who you are, and what you have to say. You can access even more information about this book and its author illustrator by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/podcast.

Young People’s Poet Laureate, Margarita Engle, talks about her newest picture book, All the Way to Havana that chronicles summer visits to her mother’s relatives in Cuba. And librarian and storyteller, Mark Pulham, discusses the importance of guiding children to books that cover subjects that hold their interest.

Margarita Engle on the subject of her poetry, and her message to young readers.

Margarita Engle and Rafael Lopez, poet and illustrator of Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics, stop by the podcast to talk about capturing the spirit of a person through poem and portrait, creating a first person-voiced time travel experience for children, and seeking to show the emotional essence of the individual.

Author Margarita Engle talks about her book LION ISLAND.

Intro   Hi everyone! Welcome to Episode 21 of Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who loves middle grade books!  I am Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom, and a big podcast fan.  And I’ll tell you - I have been absolutely sucked into the new STown podcast for the past week! And have probably spend too much time and stayed up far too late looking at pictures of hedge mazes, sundials, and antique clocks. So, I know you like podcasts - definitely go listen to STown.   Since April is National Poetry month, our show today is all about celebrating the power of poetry! I’ll share with you a couple poetry resources to help you enjoy poetry more with your students and kids, and then chat about some fabulous books - from picture books to poetry anthologies to novels in verse.     Main Topic - Celebrating the Power of Poetry   I will straight up tell you that I was slow to appreciate poetry in the way it really deserves. I was always a voracious reader even as a kid, but I rarely ever picked up any poetry when left to my own devices.  I guess I always thought of it as a complicated puzzle or containing some secret message that I was just too obtuse to figure out.  I even had this ridiculous idea that all poetry was romantic.  Yeah - I know - WRONG!   So, I have been on a mission lately to shed my own misconceptions and make SURE that I am not passing those along to my own children or my own students. It is still very much a work in progress for me, but I thought today I’d share with you a few ideas about how to include more poetry in the lives of your kids - not only during National Poetry Month, but all year long.   Rethinking Poetry First off, I think that rethinking reading poetry is the biggest step. Helping kids understand that poetry can be about ANYTHING (not just love) is a major step. The best way to to do this? Start by reading lots of varieties of poetry with them. I know we are all pressed for time, but reading a short poem every day (or even start with every week!) would take less than a minute and can often be done in those “gap times” like waiting in the hallway or waiting for the bus to arrive. (And later on, I’ll share with you some places to get those poems.)  Also, I used to think that as a teacher, I would have to hammer the heck out of a poem and make sure my students had yanked that thing apart and knew the theme, the rhyme pattern, the symbols, the point of view of the author and on and on and on until… well, it just wasn’t enjoyable anymore. For me or my students!   The event that recently cemented for me the fact that teaching poetry doesn’t have to be like that was Laura Shovan’s live Facebook Event hosted by The Nerdy Book Club. It was called “It’s National Poetry Month: Let’s Teach Poetry!” and you can find an archive of that event through their facebook page and I’ll also include a direct link to it in our show transcript. So anyway - Laura Shovan is a poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Artist-in-Education program and the author of the novel in verse The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. In this video, she walks through how to teach the poem “Weather” by Eve Merriam. The whole thing is worth checking out, but I just wanted to share with you a few highlights: Read the poem aloud and ask students what THEY notice, what stands out to them, what got them thinking or feeling. And every time I have done this over the past week, my students will catch aspects of the poem I would never have considered.  I love the advice of having students take the conversational lead. Reinforce the vocabulary of poetry naturally through the conversation around the poems, rather than a separate stand alone lesson. Incorporating terms like “couplet” and “stanza” into the discussion can save time and solidify their meaning for kids. The idea of poetry as layers - layers of sound, of story, of point of view. And how reading a poem several times allows you (and your kids!) to discover more within those multiple readings.   And Laura Shovan makes this wonderful analogy of a poem as a waterfall - some students are going to want to jump into the water and experience it with all their senses, some are science minded and might want to take samples to examine and pick apart under a microscope, and some students want to stand back admire the beauty of that waterfall with awe and wonder.  And all of those responses are are just fine. And we don’t have to do every single one of them every time we read a poem together. If you want to learn more, check out Laura’s website at www.LauraShovan.com -   Another fantastic resource that links reading and writing poetry is Kwame Alexander’s Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop. And I highly recommend this if you want to harness the power of poetry to boost the level of writing excitement with your kids. This is a teacher’s guide that will get your kids writing, publishing, and presenting their poetry - and the best part is that it’s not JUST another book on teaching poetry. It includes videos of Kwame Alexander - both for teachers and for your students to watch. And if you’ve ever had the chance to hear  him speak, you know the energy he brings.  It’s like having a Newbery-Award winning author right in your classroom giving you a mini-lesson on poetry. Actually it’s not LIKE that, it actually IS that!  Absolutely check that out!   I’ll close by quoting a bit from Kylene Beers’ forward of Page-to-Stage, “Poetry - what I’ll call the neglected genre - draws us into ourselves as it simultaneously lets us give back to the world a fresh understanding , a new vision, a re-vision of one moment. Kwame puts it better when he explains that poetry lets us ‘write our own journeys, find our own voices.’”     So I’m excited and inspired to include more poetry in my classroom and get kids writing more.  As always, I would love to hear what you are doing to foster a love of poetry  with your students and kids.  You can tag me on Twitter, Instagram, and now Facebook - our handle is @books_between or email me at booksbetween@gmail.com and I’d love to hear and share your ideas.   Book Talk - Fabulous Poetry Books & Novels in Verse   In this part of the show, I chat about books centered around a theme and of course this week is all about fantastic poetry books, anthologies, and novels in verse for middle grade readers. And - since National Poem in Your Pocket Day is Thursday, April 27th - this will give you some awesome options for you and your students to tuck in those pockets.   Poetry Books Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics by author Margarita Engle with illustrations by Rafael Lopez. I really love this book - the drawings are fantastic and bold and each poem is from the point of view of the person being featured so it really feels personal.   One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance the latest by Nikki Grimes which is a collection of her original poetry interspersed with classic poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. Grimes is amazing - just go ahead and get all the Nikki Grimes - you can’t go wrong with her work! Speaking of can’t go wrong poets, Kwame Alexander has two new poetry picture book collections out.  The first is called Animal Ark: Celebrating our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures and features photographs of endangered species. This one good for young readers as well as older kids. Then he’s also collaborated with some other poets  (Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth along with artist Ekua Holmes to put together a beautiful collection of poems celebrating poets called Out of Wonder.   Another poet to look for is  Lee Bennett Hopkins - his work is simply outstanding. I love his general collections but his themed books are really cool. Check out My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States - a collection of fifty poems celebrating various regions in the country. Or Marvelous Math - a collection of math themed poems, or Spectacular Science - a book full of poems on all sorts of science topics. What is cool about these books is that if you have them on hand, you can easily flip and find a poem that relates to a subject you are studying in class. A poetry break during Math or Science?  Yes, please!   And if you are looking for something clever and funny, take a look at Keep a Pocket in Your Poem by J. Patrick Lewis. They take classic poems and pair them with a parody poem. So for example, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is paired with “Stopping by Fridge on a Hungry Evening” . It’s cute, funny, and may even inspire some of your kids to give a parody poem a try!   And if you want to enjoy some excellent poetry with a jazzy, hip hop flair - please, please go snag a copy of Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat. It’s edited by Nikki Giovanni and includes a CD with many of the authors reading their poems - including Eloise Greenfield, Gary Soto, Langston Hughes, James Berry - and so, so many more. A couple things I really loved - one, they make the explicit connection between music, lyrics, and poetry and include lots of poems that we might originally view simply as songs.  Like “Rapper’s Delight”! And Queen Latifah’s “Ladies First”! It’s so, so good! And secondly, some of the tracks include the authors introducing their poem and giving you a little background. For instance, before Pedro Pietri reads “Love Poem for My People”, I was really stuck by how he mentioned that he wrote it many years ago and is STILL working on it.  Powerful, powerful messages for kids - you definitely want this one on hand! Novels in Verse:   Well, you can’t talk about novels in verse without mentioning the amazing Sharon Creech. There are of course Love That Dog  and Hate That Cat - perennial classics in any classroom or library. But, I want to give a plug for her latest novel, called Moo. It’s the story of twelve -year-old Reena and her seven-year-old brother, Luke who are suddenly uprooted from their life in New York City and wind up moving to very rural Maine, and reluctantly trying to bond with a super ornery cow. There were certain aspects that reminded me a bit of Home of the Brave. I think those two would make a great novel-in-verse pairing.   And of course, I would be remiss If I didn’t mention Kwame Alexander’s two novels in verse - The Crossover and Booked. I feel like I have gushed so much about those two books on this podcast and how much students love them that I am almost risking overdoing it. So, you already know they are amazing, right?   Also previously mentioned on the podcast, but definitely need to be included on this list are Ellie Terry’s Forget Me Not, which is a novel that is half verse / half prose from two points of view.  If you want to know more about that novel, I went into more depth in the last show which was Episode 20.  And in Episode #8, I featuring Laura Shovan’s The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, which is fantastic not only for the story but because it has dozens of poetry prompts right in the back. LOVE it!   Another author that writes poetry for kids across a wide range of ages is Nikki Grimes. I already mentioned her picture book work, but her novels Words With Wings and Garvey’s Choice are phenomenal. And accessible to kids who might find the brief poems and open space of each page really appealing. They are quick but powerful reads. A short poem, a short story, can pack a lot of punch.   And of course, Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming and her earlier book Locomotion and so many others are written with such passion and love that they stay with you, long, long after you’ve set aside those books.   A couple novels in verse that I haven’t read yet but have been bubbling up are The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. I keep bumping into rave reviews and reflections on these two books - argh - I think I just need to take a reading sabbatical and work through my To Be Read pile. Wouldn’t that be nice?     Well - I could go on and on - and I know I’ve missed a lot on this list, but I do need to cut myself off at some point. But, that leaves the door open for YOU!  What poetry books or novels in verse are your favorites and why do you love them? I’ll open some threads on our various social media sites and let’s continue the conversation there!   Closing   Okay  - that wraps up our show this week.  If you have topic or a book you think we should cover, please let us know. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.   Thanks again for joining me this week. You can get a full transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com including links to every book and every resource I talked about today. And, if you’re enjoying the show and finding some value in what you hear, please help others find us too by telling a friend, sharing on social media, or leaving a rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks again and see you in two weeks!  Bye!     https://www.facebook.com/nerdybookclub/videos/1501455839895985/?pnref=story   http://laurashovan.com/2017/04/its-national-poetry-month-lets-teach-poetry/   https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/books/kwame-alexanders-page-to-stage-writing-workshop-9781338026818.html  

Sep. 15, 2015. Author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh and author Margarita Engle received the 2015 Américas Awards for Children and Young Adult Literature. For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=7060

Interview with Margarita Engle, winner of the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teens for TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA. bookoflifepodcast.com