When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margarita’s worlds collide in the worst way possible. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother’s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. Enchanted Air won the 2016 Pura Belpre Author Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s book best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War. There's also a time line at the end of the book that helps readers fill in the blanks about historical events. She tells readers in an author's note, 'Travel teaches compassion.' Fast-moving narrative poetry makes Enchanted Air a good choice for reluctant readers, and the author's unique perspective breathes life into a piece of history that may be unknown to many tweens and teens. She learns through traveling - to her mother's home country of Cuba, and to Mexico and Europe - that there is both beauty and suffering. Eleven-year-old Margarita is kissed by an older boy, which she doesn't like. Her older friends brag about using weed, meth, and heroin get pregnant and have babies. As the Cuban Missile Crisis intensifies, Margarita and her American classmates prepare for bombings and 'poisoned air.' Additionally, Margarita hangs out with a wild group of girls and goes to a house where everyone else drinks and smokes.

Margarita finds bullets while visiting Cuba after the revolution, and she later learns that one of her relatives has been sent to a forced-labor camp. Parents need to know that Newbery Honor author Margarita Engle's Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings is a memoir told in poetry that recalls Engle's life as a Cuban American girl whose family is devastated by the unraveling of Cuban and American relations in the 1960s. Her older friends brag about using weed, meth, and heroin.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Margarita hangs out with a wild group of girls and goes to a house where everyone else drinks and smokes.

Enchanted air two cultures two wings