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noelle_tofigh's review against another edition
3.0
This was a Battle of the Books read. The verse was well done and at moments struck me as really beautiful. But I had a hard time connecting with the characters and their situation. The tempo was off for me too, some parts seemed rushed while others dragged. I wished for more descriptions of the island of Cuba. My team will read this over the next few weeks and I’m curious about their opinions...
booksandbosox's review against another edition
3.0
Generally, I enjoy Engle's works, but this felt a bit unfinished to me. I don't think the relationships were explored to the extent I would have preferred; I'm left without a clear sense of what might be in store for these characters. I felt the ending was a bit rushed as well. While, overall, I think the prose format works for this story, in another sense, I think this really could have benefit from a fuller fleshing out.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.
rachelkc's review against another edition
4.0
Edver isn't quite sure what to think of his older sister Luza when he meets her for the first time during a visit to Cuba, made possible by relaxed travel laws and his mother's hope that Edver spend some time with his father, away from his precious cell phone. Luza, though, remembers Edver and their mother, and wants to reconnect with the family she was forced to say goodbye to so many years ago. Told in a series of poems from both Edver and Luza's perspectives, Forest World is as beautiful and stunning as the Cuban forest it's set in.
tashrow's review
5.0
Edver isn’t pleased to be headed to Cuba to meet his father for the first time since he was a baby. Now that the laws have changed, families can once again be reunited with people who escaped to the United States from Cuba. Edver has to leave behind the Internet and his favorite video game and cope with power outages and a lack of transportation and other technology. When he gets to Cuba, Edver discovers that he has an older sister that he’d never known about. Luza had stayed with her father in Cuba, wondering why her mother left her behind. Both of their parents work to protect endangered species. Their father protects one special forest in Cuba while their mother travels the world to find newly rediscovered species. As Luza and Edver start to become siblings, they find that a poacher has come to Cuba, drawn by an email they sent to try to get their mother to come. Now it is up to them to protect the forest they both love.
Engle is a master of the verse novel, writing of difficult subjects and using the poetic format to dig deeper than prose would allow. She tells the story in alternating poems in the voices of Edver and Luza as they discover the poverty of Cuba, the wealth of America, and the fact that there are different types of wealth in life like parental attention, grandparents and a sense of home.
Engle explores the world of Lazarus animals and protecting endangered species in this novel. The subject works in a lovely parallel to Cuban Americans being reunited with their families. There is a sense of delicacy and care, a feeling of finding the right habitat suddenly, and a sense of exploration and discovery heightened with surprises.
Another adept verse novel from a true master, this is a book that explores home, habitat and family. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Engle is a master of the verse novel, writing of difficult subjects and using the poetic format to dig deeper than prose would allow. She tells the story in alternating poems in the voices of Edver and Luza as they discover the poverty of Cuba, the wealth of America, and the fact that there are different types of wealth in life like parental attention, grandparents and a sense of home.
Engle explores the world of Lazarus animals and protecting endangered species in this novel. The subject works in a lovely parallel to Cuban Americans being reunited with their families. There is a sense of delicacy and care, a feeling of finding the right habitat suddenly, and a sense of exploration and discovery heightened with surprises.
Another adept verse novel from a true master, this is a book that explores home, habitat and family. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
4.0
Edver is sent off to Cuba for the summer to stay with a father he doesn't even remember. Who does he discover is also there? A sister he never knew about. His father is carefully guarding a remote part of the rainforest from those who would take its treasures while his mother travels the world seeking species once thought to be extinct. Then Edver and his sister learn of the presence in the forest of a man who would steal its treasures and they must work together to battle him.
Cuba came alive for me in this story, with its native animals and forests along with the difficult lives of the people living there. It's a novel story, a fascinating story of conflict and confusion and relationships and resolve.
Cuba came alive for me in this story, with its native animals and forests along with the difficult lives of the people living there. It's a novel story, a fascinating story of conflict and confusion and relationships and resolve.
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