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Summary
Summary
In a haunting yet hopeful novel in verse, award-winning author Margarita Engle tells the story of Antonio Chuffat, a young man of African, Chinese, and Cuban descent who became a champion of civil rights.
Asia, Africa, Europe--Antonio Chuffat's ancestors clashed and blended on the beautiful island of Cuba. Yet for most Cubans in the nineteenth century, life is anything but beautiful. The country is fighting for freedom from Spain. Enslaved Africans and nearly-enslaved Chinese indentured servants are forced to work long, backbreaking hours in the fields.
So Antonio feels lucky to have found a good job as a messenger, where his richly blended cultural background is an asset. Through his work he meets Wing, a young Chinese fruit seller who barely escaped the anti-Asian riots in San Francisco, and his sister Fan, a talented singer. With injustice all around them, the three friends are determined that violence will not be the only way to gain liberty.
Author Notes
Margarita Engle is a Cuban-American poet and novelist. Her books include The Wild Book, Tropical Secrets, The Firefly Letters, The Lightning Dreamer, When You Wander, Mountain Dog, and Silver People. She has received several awards including the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Américas Award, and the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award for The Surrender Tree and the Pura Belpré Award and the Américas Award for The Poet Slave of Cuba.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Engle concludes what she describes as a "loosely linked group of historical verse novels about the struggle against forced labor in nineteenth-century Cuba," focusing on the formative teenage years of Antonio Chuffat, a real-life messenger boy of mixed Chinese, African, and Cuban descent who became a champion of civil rights. Living in war-torn 1870s Cuba alongside enslaved Africans and indentured Chinese workers shapes Antonio's path to the point where he and his friends-twins Wing and Fan, whose family fled anti-Asian riots in Los Angeles-begin hiding Chinese fugitives, à la the Underground Railroad. Antonio also wishes they could free the enslaved Africans, while Wing longs to join the rebels' fight. Engle introduces readers to a little-discussed era of Cuban history through her concise verse and varied points of view, mainly those of Antonio, Wing, and Fan. This historical snapshot focuses less on the war than on its effects on Cuba's citizens as Engle's characters speak eloquently about gender inequality, racial injustice, and becoming a "warrior of words" through diplomatic and written means. Ages 10-up. Agent: Michelle Humphrey, Martha Kaplan Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In this last chapter in her series of verse novels about the struggle "against forced labor in nineteenth-century Cuba" (The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, rev. 7/06, and companions), Engle tells the story of Cuba's Chinese indentured workers through the eyes of Antonio Chuffat, a Chinese African Cuban boy. Antonio wants desperately to help the laborers who seek freedom from the indenture system, with its endlessly renewing eight-year contracts, but as a twelve-year-old whose father would prefer he study, he isn't sure what his role can be. When he takes a job as a messenger, he learns firsthand that words have power. Antonio befriends Wing and Fan, Chinese American twins whose family fled California as a result of anti-Asian riots. The poems alternate among all three voices. Fan ponders her own freedom and place in the struggle as a female, while Wing decides that being a soldier is the path he must take. Beginning in 1871, the novel spans eight years, during which we see the three characters grow from conflicted young people into confident adults. Once again, Engle weaves fiction and fact to create a lyrical tale. Like Antonio, readers will discover the power of words and the importance of documenting stories so that histories are not forgotten. A page of contextual background, a historical note, references, and a very brief list of further reading recommendations are appended. celia c. prez (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
The newest historical novel in verse from award-winner Engle (Enchanted Air, 2015) fictionalizes the true story of Antonio Chuffat, whose mixed Chinese African descent made him an ideal messenger and, later, story-recorder for the indentured Chinese and African slaves in Cuba in the late 1800s. Young Antonio and his friends, Wing and Fan, collude to help victims of forced-labor practices escape to freedom. When word of Cuba's inhumane policies reaches the Chinese emperor, he sends emissaries to collect the people's stories, and Antonio is tasked with recording them. Their stories are interwoven with those of the three protagonists, to powerful effect. Once again, Engle has brought the dark truths of colonial history out of the shadows and into a young readership's world. She draws attention to topics as diverse as forced migration, foreign policy, cultural blending, racism, poetry, love, peaceful resistance, and the power of words. This poetic glimpse into Cuba's troubled past shines a light on an important human-rights activist and will pique readers' curiosity about Cuba's complicated history.--Chaudhri, Amina Copyright 2016 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-In this middle grade novel in verse, Engle transports readers to the world of 1870s Cuba. Antonio Chuffat is of African and Chinese descent and acts as a messenger for Chinese diplomats trying to argue for better conditions. While fighting for liberty for the Chinese, Antonio notices that no one is attempting to free the African side of his family. A beautifully written work that addresses social justice issues that are more important now than ever. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This verse novel presents a fictionalized account of a real historical figure who used the power of words to help end forced labor in 19th-century Cuba.Antonio Chuffat is a free-born Chinese-African young man who comes of age in Cuba during a time of turmoil. Indentured laborers from China and African slaves are suffering dehumanizing injustice. Rebels have been fighting against Spanish rule for years. Thousands of Chinese-American refugees are migrating to Cuba, fleeing anti-Asian violence in California. Antonio's adolescence is spent working as a courier, delivering messages that travel between Spanish and Chinese businessmen, military leaders, and diplomats. Observing the violence and seeking a way to contribute to the battle for justice, he comes to realize that true power can be found in words, and so he helps to tell the stories of the powerless. Fictional twins Wing and Fan, Chinese-American refugees, also help tell the story. Over the course of seven years, these three main characters each find their own ways to contribute to the freedom efforts. As with Engle's related verse novels, this work looks directly at the brutality of slavery and war. It also tenderly exposes the rage and hope that can exist within the same heart.A fierce portrait of a young man's discovery of power through words. (historical background, historical note, references, further reading) (Historical verse/fiction. 11-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.