The Lightning Dreamer
Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · September 15, 2015
“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.
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- Who it’s for
- Accessible verse brings a book-loving feminist and abolitionist’s resistance into vivid focus.
- Themes
- Abolition, Feminism, Resistance to arranged marriage
- Genres
- Novels in Verse for Teens, Hispanic & Latino YA, YA Poetry
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For older readers: You Sound Like a White Girl, Resistencia, Have You Been Long Enough at Table
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Start with this bookAbout this book
“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.
Continue reading
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.
Poetry Against Silence
Accessible verse brings a book-loving feminist and abolitionist’s resistance into vivid focus.
Come here for
- A poetic voice shaped by feminist conviction and opposition to slavery
- A window into nineteenth-century Cuban abolitionism
Expect
- Passionate, accessible verses rather than conventional prose
- Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes alongside the poems
Where it sits
| Novels in Verse for Teens | 94% |
|---|---|
| Hispanic & Latino YA | 43% |
| YA Poetry | 37% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Lives in History
- Writers' Lives
- Women's Lives
- Family
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Girls & Women
- Central & South American History
- Caribbean & Latin America for Teens
- Poetry for Teens
- Authors
- Margarita Engle
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- September 15, 2015
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Abolition · Feminism · Resistance to arranged marriage
- Reading lane
- Lives in History