A review by nerfherder86
Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle

5.0

Beautiful book in verse, a biography of Margarita's childhood as a daughter of a Cuban mother and an American painter father. She spent summers visiting her relatives in Cuba, but after the Cuban revolution the family could no longer travel there, and young Margarita doesn't understand the politics, only the reality of missing her abuelita, and of the whispers of her American neighbors that her parents are spies. The poems portray the vibrant colors, smells, sights and sounds of the "crocodile-shaped" island, where young Margarita feels she is almost another girl entirely, a confident girl and not the shy bookworm with no American friends. Peppered with Spanish vocabulary and descriptions of Cuban culture, as well as a story about a girl caught between two worlds, growing up with an appreciation for all cultures, this charming book ends with the author's heartfelt plea that perhaps someday the travel ban will be lifted so that "an ordinary family" will be united again. And her wishes came true, just as the book was being published, with the thawing of relations with Cuba! Good book for all ages. Winner of the inaugural Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for Teens, 2016. https://www.kent.edu/virginiahamiltonconference/arnold-adoff-poetry-award-recipients