The Surrender Tree

The Surrender Tree (2008) by Margarita Engle. 166 pages.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8674-4
2009 Pura Belpre Award and Newbery Honor Book

This historical fiction is told in verse; the story takes place between 1850 and 1899, across three of Cuba's bloody wars for independence from Spain. The story setting is framed at the beginning: in 1869, Cuban plantation owners freed their slaves and declared independence from Spain; in 1896 Cuban peasants were ordered to reach "reconcentration camps" within eight days. Nurses hid in the jungle, healing people with medicinal plants.

Each lyrical entry is told in first person by Rosa, Jose, Lieutenant Death and Silvia. Rosa, the main character, is a healer, hiding and healing in caves while moving secretly through the jungle with her husband, Jose. Lieutenant Death constantly searches for runaways and seeks to kill the witch, Rosa. Eleven-year-old Silvia is a peasant who's father is died and mother is dying. She spends her days farming and caring for her brothers; they've been ordered to a "reconcentration camp". Rosa and Jose work to help her and other refugees.

Following the story are an author's note, an historical note and chronology. Rosa and Jose are historical figures among the fictional characters in the book; their story has been imagined from accounts of survivors of Weyler's concentration camps.

The book's very serious, and sometimes gruesome, themes of the realities of war, refugees and survival should be discussed with a young reader. Well written entries provide a glimpse of the characters' responses and feelings through these difficult events. Verse is an interesting and manageable approach to presenting this story.

Interview with Margarita Engle, the first Latina to win the Newbery.

Curriculum Connection: History-Social Science
10.4 Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism
3. Explain imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the varied immediate and long-term responses by the people under colonial rule.