Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck

The unique juxtaposition of poetry and cruelty creates a peculiar literary tension. --VOYA

* Once again, Engle fictionalizes historical fact in a powerful, original story. --Booklist, starred review

Unique and inventive, this is highly readable historical fiction that provides plenty of fodder for discussion. --School Library Journal

Like intersecting rip tides, several first-person narratives converge in this verse novel of the sixteenth century. --The Horn Book Magazine

The subject matter is an excellent introduction to the age of exploration and its consequences, showing slavery sinking its insidious roots in the Americas and the price paid by those who were there first. --Publishers Weekly

Taken individually the stories are slight, but they work together elegantly; the notes and back matter make this a great choice for classroom use. --Kirkus Reviews

Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet, novelist, and journalist whose work has been published in many countries. She is the author of young adult nonfiction books and novels in verse, including The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor Book; The Poet Slave of Cuba; The Firefly Letters; and Tropical Secrets. She lives in northern California.