News Archive
December 19
Another review for The Wild Book from Jennifer Bardsley, on Teaching My Baby To Read blog.
December 6
Thank you to Teaching for Change's Bookstore at Busboy and Poets, for selecting Margarita's book, The Wild Book, as one of their 2012 staff favorites. Visit their website to see their complete selections.
November 28
Review of Margarita's book, Tropical Secret is available at the Gathering Books Blog.
Check out photos of Margarita and other authors featured at the Petunia's Place Bookstore's Festival of Author on November 24.
November 13
From A Book Barn's Picture Book Festival on November 10, Margarita with her granddaughter, Izabella, and one of the Tail Waggin' Tutors dog.
November 5
(Left) Margarita with her search and rescue dogs. Click here to check out Margarita's new dog-themed books.
Margarita's interview with Uma Krishnaswami of Writing with a Broken Tusk on her book, The Wild Book.
Margarita will be featured in The ALAN Review issue 40:1 (page 64-69) in an article titled, Invitational History in Margarita Engle's The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, by Zaira Aruelo.
October 10
Advanced review copies of Margarita's upcoming book, The Lightning Dreamer, are now available to reviewers. A copy can be requested by contacting Margarita.
The Lightning Dreamer is a novel in verse about Cuba's great abolitionist/feminist poet, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, who was world-famous in her lifetime, but has been forgotten by history.
October 8
- The Poet Slave of Cuba was featured as one of the books on Read-Aloud Alert: Biographies as Read-Alouds article, under the subject of Slavery.
- During Margarita's Author-in Residence week on September, for the Education Department at University of California - Davis, she really enjoyed speaking to student teachers and their mentor teachers.
She participated in a fun Family Writing Night at Korematsu Elementary School, where she read from Summer Birds and an advanced review copy of When You Wander. Margarita also introduced the tanka form of poetry, so that parents and children could write their own short poems together. They left with beautifully illustrated mini-anthologies of their own short poems!
Updated: September 1
Updated link to purchase a copy of Poetry Friday Anthology.
Also, don't miss the chance to win a copy of Poetry Friday Anthology and instigate the Poetry Friday movement in your school or library.
Original: August 17
Coming just in time for the 2012-2013 school year, a new poetry anthology, The Poetry Friday Anthology, is available now. This anthology includes three of Margarita's poems, along with more than 200 original poems for children in kindergarten through fifth grade by 75 popular poets including J. Patrick Lewis, Jack Prelutsky, Jane Yolen, Margarita Engle, X. J. Kennedy, Kathi Appelt, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Georgia Heard and Nikki Grimes and many more.
Download and read a sample (pdf) of the anthology.
For information about purchasing a copy, click here.
August 13
The cover of Margarita's next novel in verse, The Lightning Dreamer, to be published by Harcourt in spring, 2013. It tells the story about Cuba's great abolitionist poet, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.
August 7
Margarita was the featured guest blogger at TeachingBooks.net. Click here to read her article on Writing Historical Novels in Verse, and see a picture of 'Fefa' that inspires Margarita's The Wild Book.
Follow this link to hear Margarita sharing some of the backstory for The Wild Book.
August 2
Click here to read Cynsations' Celebrating Poetry interview with Margarita. The interview was done by Kate Hosford.
August
Margarita was recently invited as a speaker for Ms. Nicole Karanjit's ESL (English as Second Language) classes, at the American English Institute:
- Speaking about The Wild Book at the Reading and Vocabulary class.
- Discussing both of Margarita's rescue dog-themed books, Because of Shoe and When You Wander, at the America Culture Camp for Chinese students and California Experience Camp for Taiwanese students. Margarita also brought along her retired search-and-rescue dog, Maggi, for both presentations.
July 18
Follow this link to see news coverage of Margarita's book signing at A Book Barn Bookstore on July 14, in Clovis.
July 11
Read Margarita's response to receiving the Pura Belpré Honor for Hurricane Dancers at 2012 America Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition last month, by La Bloga's blog.
Photo © http://labloga.blogspot.com/
June 24
Margarita was at the 2012 America Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, California. Her book, Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Shipwreck is one of the Pura Belpre Author Honor book for this year. She also participated in YA Author Coffee Klatch (YALSA) and book signing sessions. Thanks to all that came out to meet her at ALA!
June 22
Click here to read more glowing review of Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories from the School Library Journal.
June 17
Margarita was one of the guest speaker at Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore, on May 26-29. She also had the chance to see a wildlife refuge for rescued orangutans in Sarawak.
June 6
- The Wild Book has been selected as Latin Baby Book Club's Book of the Month for June.
- Also, click here to read a review of Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories from the July/August issue of Horn Book.
May 25
Hurricane Dancers has been selected as one of two recipients of the 2012 Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. The announcement of the award winners and other commended titles will be released soon through Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP).
May 18
More review of The Wild Book from Ella Johnson at Mymcbook blog. Click here for her review on Goodreads.
May 11
This is Margarita's newest picture book to be published in March 2013 by Holt/Macmillan. We'll post updates on the website as the book progresses.
May 6
Thank you Angelica Carpenter for the wonderful editorial in The Fresno Bee on Margarita's book!
May 1
Here's another great review for The Wild Book from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Click here to read the review.
April 13
Margarita is one of El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day) Author and Illustrator Ambassadors.
Watch Margarita reading from The Wild Book and The Surrender Tree on Pat Mora's BookJoy! website.
A word from Margarita on Children’s Day/Book Day:
April 30, 2012 marks the sixteenth anniversary of a visionary program launched by poet Pat Mora, in cooperation with REFORMA and now housed at the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of ALA. Children’s Day/Book Day has grown into a national day of festivities. Schools, museums, bookstores, and libraries host events promoting books and celebrating the joy of reading.
When I try to describe my own love of books, I feel like I could go on and on for pages, writing about the profound role that reading played in my childhood. Adventurous trips to the public library. School assignments that were so challenging and enjoyable, I thought I had to keep my delight secret, to avoid being teased by less bookish kids. Stories. Poems. Travel books. Plays. The variety was thrilling!
The variety of books available to children and their families should always be thrilling. Whether we are writers, teachers, students, parents, librarians, or simply readers from any far-flung branch of the world’s varied careers, let’s all remember to celebrate April 30.
Happy Children’s Day/Book Day! Happy reading!
April 11
Read Margarita's previously unpublished poem 'Chocho Seed' featured on GottaBook website's 30 Poets, 30 Days.
Also, check out another interview that Margarita did on the Gathering Books website. The interview talks about The Women [and Poetry] in Margarita’s Writings.
April 5
- Margarita's books are included in some of the lists of recommended poetry books, in Sylvia Vardell's The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists.
- Margarita is one of the nine authors contributing to a new dog stories anthology Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories.
Click on the image to enlarge.
April 3
Read Margarita's 5Q Poet Interview Series for National Poetry Month at Poetry for Children's website.
March 30
- Another review for The Wild Book from The Gathering Books blog. Margarita is also March/April featured author on the blog's Behind the Books section.
- Margarita's interview with La Vida en el Valle newspaper can be read here.
March 24
Margarita did an author appearance and book signing event for The Wild Book at A Book Barn bookstore in Clovis, California.
March 23
- Hurricane Dancers is on the 2012 WHITE RAVENS LIST. This is a list of outstanding international books for children and young adults, named by the Internationale Jugendbibliothek, or International Youth Library, in Munich, Germany. The list was presented at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy, consists of 250 titles from 40 countries, and will appear in a catalogue available at www.ijb.de.
- Margarita was featured on TV program Channel 47 On Your Side with Zara Arboleda.
- Margarita was interviewed about The Wild Book, by La Vida en el Valle newspaper, for an upcoming article
March 20
Margarita was interviewed about The Wild Book, on KVPR's Valley Edition. Click here to listen to the interview (Margarita's segment starts on minute 51).
March 19
Margarita was invited to speak to graduate students enrolled in California State University Fresno's Master's in Education program. The students are public school teachers who are preparing to become reading specialists. They were a wonderful audience!
March 8, 2012
Great news: The Wild Book is one of top 20 New & Notable Books for Children: March 2012, picked by Kirkus Review.
Also, one of Margarita's poems will be featured in April's National Poetry Month 30 Poets Celebration on Gottabook Blog. So, keep an eye on that blog next month!
March 3, 2012
- Visit Jama's Alphabet Soup website in March, to read Margarita's poem about food on Alphabet Soup Poetry Potluck. Thank you Jama Rattigan for the invitation to contribute to the site!
- On March 23rd, Margarita will be interviewed on Channel 47 On Your Side, with Zara Arboleda at 6 am, with some sort of book giveaway
- Visit KidLit Celebrates Women’s History Month website on March 23, to read Margarita's post about The Firefly Letters for Celebrate Women's History Month.
- Exciting news: Margarita will be one of the Author Ambassadors for the American Library Association's Día de los Niños, promoting bilingual literacy. More info coming soon.
- More exciting news: Margarita is honored to be included on a future/upcoming version of Notable Women Timeline on the Girl Scouts of U.S.A. website.
February 5, 2012
Check out Margarita's reaction for her 2012 Pura Belpré Award Honor for Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Shipwreck on ALA Youth Media Award's YouTube channel.
See also reaction from other award winners here.
January 26, 2012
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Shipwreck is a 2012 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book and ALSC 2012 Notable Children's Book for older readers!
See complete list of the winners and honorees for this year here. Margarita will be presented with this award in June, at the ALA conference in Anaheim.
January 16, 2012
The Wild Book is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold. Reserve you copy now!
Excerpts of reviews of The Wild Book:
- "...The author gives readers a portrait of a tumultuous period in Cuban history and skillfully integrates island flora, fauna and mythology into Fefa’s first-person tale..." (Kirkus -- a starred review!)
- "... beautiful collection of poems that together tell the story of a young girl’s challenge with language, and it is much more. We learn the history and culture of Cuba, and the power and importance of family..." (VOYA)
Click here to read complete reviews of the book.
January 9, 2012
Recent reviews: Gathering Books Blog wrote another review of Margarita's book, The Poet Slave of Cuba.
January 2, 2012
- There are some reviews from the advance reader copy of Margarita's newest book The Wild Book (will be published in March 2012), some of them can be viewed on Goodreads.
- Also, a very nice blog comment about several of Margarita books, including the upcoming The Wild Book was posted on the Gathering Books blog.
- Margarita's book, Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Shipwreck, was chosen as one of Top 20 Most Distinctive Books of Poetry 2011 by Sylvia Vardell of Poetry For Children.
December 20, 2011
Recent reviews:
- Gathering Books Blog wrote couple of beautiful reviews of Margarita's books The Firefly Letter and The Surrender Tree.
December 1, 2011
- On November 6, Margarita spoke at Friends of the Fresno County Library's Dinner in the Library event.
- On November 10, Margarita did a Skype presentation with Primary Source, an educators group in Massachusetts, to discuss The Firefly Letters.
November 5, 2011
Click image on the left to see how Margarita's book, The Firefly Letters, inspired Ms. Shearer's 8th grade English students, from Calhoun Middle School in Texas.
November 1, 2011
Margarita did a guest blog on the Kidsbiographer's Blog, on 'Choosing Voices'. Read it here.
October 2011 - Book News!
* The Korean edition of Summer Birds is now in print
* Thank you for all the reviewers, librarians, and teachers that have requested an ARC of Margarita's upcoming book The Wild Book. Please let us know what you think of the book.
Recent and upcoming reviews:
- Kidsbiographer's Blog wrote a review of Summer Bird and did an interview with Margarita about biographical writing.
- Renowned poet Nikki Grimes wrote a wonderful entry about Hurricane Dancers on her blog.
-
An e-book anthology for young children will include one of Margarita's poems. Gift Tag, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, will be available on time for the holidays.
For purchase information, visit www.poetrytagtime.com. - There will be an article about The Poet Slave of Cuba in an upcoming issue of Sankofa, a Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature.
October 2011
- On October 23, Margarita spoke in a plenary session of the International Board on Books for Young People Regional Conference, in Fresno, along with author Adwaa Badoe from Ghana.
- On October 19, Margarita spoke to a group of Fresno school librarians at Liddell School.
- On October 1, Margarita signed copies of her books at Petunia's Place Bookstore in celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month, along with author Gary Soto.
September 24, 2011
Margarita's poem is featured in a new poetry anthology, P*TAG (PoetryTagTime)
This anthology is available to download in e-book/digital format. For more information, visit Poetry Tag Time's website.
August 25, 2011
Margarita was the guest speaker for a book club, unofficially called the Bad Girls Book Club, from Madera, CA. For their meetings, members of the book club read different books and recommend them to each other, rather than discussing a single book. At this meeting, each member read different books written by Margarita. The event was organized by Janet Claassen, a retired librarian and dedicated Friends of the Library volunteer.
Special thanks for Petunia's Place Bookstore, the only independent children's bookstore in Fresno, for staying open late to host the club.
July 30, 2011
Check out new interviews with Margarita from Pat Mora's Bookjoy Creativity Salon, and from The Gatekeepers Post.
Margarita and her works will be featured on these future publications:
* Poetry Tag Time for Teens, an e-book anthology, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (September 2011, Poetry For Children)
* The new edition of Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America (Harper Collins, March, 2012). Margarita will be featured in this book as the first Latina Newbery Honor recipient.
July 8, 2011
Hurricane Dancers, story of the first Carribean pirate shipwreck, has been nominated for the 2012
American Library Association's Best Books for
Young Adults list.
July 7, 2011
Margarita visited Petunia's Place Bookstore to talk about The Firefly Letters at their Good Books Good Times Book Club.
June 26, 2011
Margarita received a Pura Belpré Honor for The Firefly Letters at the American Libraries Association (ALA) Annual Convention, in New Orleans.
She also spoke at a breakfast in honor of the Amelia Bloomer Top Ten List.
June 5, 2011
Update: July 7, 2011
Advanced Readers Copies of The Wild Book will be available to reviewers, librarians, and teachers in August.
Margarita's newest book, The Wild Book is scheduled to be released in March 2012. Check out the gorgeous cover illustrated by Yuyi Morales
June 1, 2011
Exciting News!
Works on the Korean translation of Summer Birds and Tropical Secrets are in progress.
April 2011
Check out Margarita's video interview with Colorín Colorado, as Margarita discusses her childhood memories of Cuba and the ways in which her quest for her own heritage led to the discovery of these unforgettable heroes and heroines.
May 9, 2011
Margarita was one of the speakers at the International Reading Association (IRA) Annual Convention, in Orlando. She was also there to introduce the International Reading Association's Notable Books for a Global Society list. The Firefly Letters is one of the books on this year's list.
May 4, 2011
The Firefly Letters is selected as the Américas Award Honorable Mention.
The Américas Award is given in recognition of U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. See complete list of the winners and honors here.
April 15, 2011
Update (June 7): Click here to read an article on Margarita by Sylvia Vardell.
Margarita participated in the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference's Poetry Round Up, reading her works along with other contemporary poets, and hosted by Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children blog
March 2011
Margarita's new book, Hurricane Dancers, the First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck, is out on stores this month.
Get your copy from local bookstore or order it online, and read about Quebrado's adventures in the Caribbean Sea
