Hurricane Dancers Swept Me Away This Summer

July 29, 2011

I can hardly believe it, but the end of the Summer Reading Program approaches. Saturday, July 30th is the last day for you to log in your reading time, but you have until August 6th to pick up your prizes. 

Like many others, an actual trip to an exotic location is not a possibility for me, so I visited other countries through books! One that I particularly liked is Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle. The story is told in poems from the point of view of several different characters. I know that as soon as you see the word "poems," many of you will instantly assume this is not a book for you, but I hope to change your mind. The words of a poem are like the brightest stars in a night sky actually brimming with millions of other stars. Those words were chosen because they most concisely communicate paragraphs of emotion and story.

Hurricane Dancers is a story of pirates, hurricanes, slavery, star-crossed lovers, and revenge. Engle’s poems swept me away to the Caribbean this summer. Where did you go with books this summer? Tell us! 

Jessie Alexander-East
Youth Services Manager