Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle

Title: Bravo!: Poems about Amazing Hispanics
By: Engle, Margarita
Published: 2017
Call #: x920.009268 Engle.M

Margarita Engle’s insightful poems and Rafael López’s vibrant, soulful illustrations work together to create a memorable poetry collection that celebrates the contributions of a wide variety of Hispanics.  What makes this book special is readers learn about people rarely covered in collective biographies for kids.  Each biographical sketch consists of a double page spread with a poem on one side and a full page mixed media drawing on the other.  Each poem is written in the first person, brief but filled with enough facts to give readers a sense of the person’s accomplishments and life philosophy.  Subjects include wildlife advocate George Meléndez Wright, librarian Pura Belpré, poet José Martí, among others.  The excellent back matter includes a poem that mentions other amazing people not singled out with an individual poem, and more facts about the lives of each person covered.  A very readable collection for people who like poetry, biographies, and learning about fascinating lives.

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