The Lightning Dreamer, Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist, published earlier this year by Harcourt Children’s Books, is a biographical novel in verse based on the life of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, whose interracial romance novel, Sab (1841) preceded Uncle Tom’s Cabin (and was far more influential in Latin America and Europe).

Description: “I find it so easy to forget / that I’m just a girl who is expected / to live / without thoughts.” Opposing slavery in Cuba in the nineteenth century was dangerous. The most daring abolitionists were poets who veiled their work in metaphor. Of these, the boldest was Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, nicknamed Tula. In passionate, accessible verses of her own, Engle evokes the voice of this book-loving feminist and abolitionist who bravely resisted an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen, and was ultimately courageous enough to fight against injustice. Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes round out this exceptional tribute.

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American winner of the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino. Her award winning young adult novels in verse include The Surrender Tree, The Poet Slave of Cuba, Tropical Secrets, and The Firefly Letters.

For full reviews, see http://mstamireads.com/2013/05/13/the-lightning-dreamer-cubas-greatest-abolitionist-by-margarita-engle/ and http://imlostinbooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-24-lightning-dreamer-by.html

For purchasing information, see http://www.amazon.com/The-Lightning-Dreamer-Greatest-Abolitionist/dp/0547807430