Margarita Engle

Cuban-born eleven-year-old Oriol lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she struggles to belong. But most of the time that's okay, because she enjoys helping her parents care for the many injured animals at their veterinary clinic. Then Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, moves to town, and aspiring writer Oriol finds herself opening up. As she begins to create a world of words for herself, Oriol learns...

"When Destiny was found by the Sloth Institute in Costa Rica, she was sick, thin, and one of her eyes was closed and not working. The Sloth Institute took her in and introduced her to other sloths as she started to recover. She never regained the use of her one eye, but that didn't stop Destiny from hanging out with her new buddies, or getting healthier and stronger. Last August, Destiny was fitted for her tracking collar and released back into the...

Illustrations and easy-to-read text tell of travelers who have left their homelands to bring their talents, hopes, and determination to a land where Liberty's light shines for all.

In Cuba's "special period in times of peace" of 1991, Liana and Amado find love after their severe hunger gives both courage to risk government retribution by skipping a summer of labor to seek food. Told in their two voices plus that of the stray dog that brought them together.

During a Hindu festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, brothers Alu and Bhalu search for a dog they can honor with food and gratitude. Includes glossary of Nepali words and suggested activities.

In free verse, evokes the voice of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, a book-loving writer, feminist, and abolitionist who courageously fought injustice in nineteenth-century Cuba. Includes historical notes, excerpts from her writings, biographical information, and source notes.

The Surrender Tree / El árbol de la rendición is a lyrical, Newbery Honor-winning history in poems, and this bilingual edition has the Spanish and English text available in one book.
It is 1896. Cuba has fought three wars for independence and still is not free. People have been rounded up in reconcentration camps with too little food and too much illness. Rosa is a nurse, but she dares not go to the camps.

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A dog that has just graduated from "sniffing school" advises readers what to do if they become lost in the woods, and assures them that his smart nose will lead him to where they are. Includes facts about dogs' noses.

All the orangutans are ready for a nap in the sleepy depths of the afternoon--all except one. Written in a series of linked poems in the tanka style, an ancient Japanese form of poetry.