Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Henry Holt, 2009.
Description
Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.
Subjects
Awards
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Winner — 2010)
Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (Commended Title — 2010)
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member break
After returning home from last night's Seder at the synagogue I felt inspired to sit down and read a book about what happens after a miraculous escape. Margarita Engle's “Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba” provided me with that kind of narrative and more. It even had a Pesach
I was taught that there are four
kinds of people in the world –
wise, wicked, simple,
and those who do not yet know
how to ask questions
I was taught that questions
are just as important as answers
I was a child when I learned these things,
Now I am old, but I still know
that life's questions
outnumber life's answers.
As you can guess from the subtitle of the book it follows the fears and quest of a new life of a Holocaust refugee. Daniel was barely bar-mitzvah-ed in 1939 when his parents purchased a ticket (using up all their money) for ship to New York. But the ship was not allowed to port in Canada or in New York, so it ended up in Cuba. There Daniel befriended a local girl of the same age, Paloma and an older Jewish man, who himself escaped from pogrom in Ukraine years ago. The book centers about their problems, perspectives and mutual support for each other.
It is made up of mostly one page long poems, most of them are internal monologues. The lines of the poems are short and the rhymes are varying. This combination makes the whole book with its staccato rhythm enjoyable. As you are reading the book tell your eyes to not to skip the very first line of the pages, which are differently typeset. That's where we learn whose voice we read on the particular page, thus it is an important, integral part of the book.
The personal histories of these three characters reflect a part of history that most people didn't know about: how successful the Third Reich's spies, whom they sent to Cuba to incite anti-semitic feelings, were. How only the shock of Pearl Harbor turned the country against the Nazis. Another tragic tidbit of history of the island was how in their neophyte zeal they turned against Germany to such an extent that they had put every Germans, who were not Jews, onto a camp on a remote island. The book shows one fictional couple's story, who have been married for 60 years, but as one of them was not Jewish they would have been separated by this short-lived law.
The book's target audience is teenagers and it won the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for the teen category. However everybody would enjoy it who is interested in history, life, big questions and enjoys poetry. I read it in an hour, but thought about it all day afterward. It is a well-crafted work in a nice presentation.
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reference on page 99 that talked to me:I was taught that there are four
kinds of people in the world –
wise, wicked, simple,
and those who do not yet know
how to ask questions
I was taught that questions
are just as important as answers
I was a child when I learned these things,
Now I am old, but I still know
that life's questions
outnumber life's answers.
As you can guess from the subtitle of the book it follows the fears and quest of a new life of a Holocaust refugee. Daniel was barely bar-mitzvah-ed in 1939 when his parents purchased a ticket (using up all their money) for ship to New York. But the ship was not allowed to port in Canada or in New York, so it ended up in Cuba. There Daniel befriended a local girl of the same age, Paloma and an older Jewish man, who himself escaped from pogrom in Ukraine years ago. The book centers about their problems, perspectives and mutual support for each other.
It is made up of mostly one page long poems, most of them are internal monologues. The lines of the poems are short and the rhymes are varying. This combination makes the whole book with its staccato rhythm enjoyable. As you are reading the book tell your eyes to not to skip the very first line of the pages, which are differently typeset. That's where we learn whose voice we read on the particular page, thus it is an important, integral part of the book.
The personal histories of these three characters reflect a part of history that most people didn't know about: how successful the Third Reich's spies, whom they sent to Cuba to incite anti-semitic feelings, were. How only the shock of Pearl Harbor turned the country against the Nazis. Another tragic tidbit of history of the island was how in their neophyte zeal they turned against Germany to such an extent that they had put every Germans, who were not Jews, onto a camp on a remote island. The book shows one fictional couple's story, who have been married for 60 years, but as one of them was not Jewish they would have been separated by this short-lived law.
The book's target audience is teenagers and it won the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for the teen category. However everybody would enjoy it who is interested in history, life, big questions and enjoys poetry. I read it in an hour, but thought about it all day afterward. It is a well-crafted work in a nice presentation.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smclawler
Told in verse with four voices, Margarita Engle’s Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba (Henry Holt, 2009) is based on the exploitation encountered by Jews as they flee Nazi controlled Europe, and the problems of adapting to their new environment. Exorbitant fees were charged for passage
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on these ships and disembarkation was not guaranteed without additional fees. Cuba, the setting for this story, actually took in a higher proportion of Jews than the United States. Daniel has fled Europe alone, and after his vessel was denied entry to the US, the ship finally docked in Cuba. He meets Paloma, the daughter of El Gordo, a Cuban whose wealth is based on the fees collected from Jews who wish to disembark. Paloma secretly works to help ease the transition of the refugees. All is new-the climate, the plants, the animals, the clothes, the language, and the food. Together Paloma and Daniel befriend David, a former refugee from Russia, who has been in Cuba for many years. This fictional work is a nice companion to Engle’s The Surrender Tree (Henry Holt, 2008), the Newbery honor winner that chronicles Cuba’s wars of independence from Spain. Show Less
LibraryThing member abbylibrarian
At the beginning of World War II, Daniel's family only has the money for one passage out of Germany and his parents decide he should take it. They promise to meet up with him in New York as soon as they can get out. When the ship is rejected by the United States and Canada, Daniel ends up in Cuba,
It's a very interesting topic for a book and WWII is a popular topic among middle-graders. I'm just not that into novels in verse - I can think of a select few that I have enjoyed. I think I would have enjoyed this novel more if it had been a prose story. It was hard for me to identify with the characters when we just see them in the small snippets of poems. I wouldn't hesitate to hand this to fans of novels in verse, though, and there are plenty of them out there.
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befriending Paloma, a Cuban girl with secrets. It's a very interesting topic for a book and WWII is a popular topic among middle-graders. I'm just not that into novels in verse - I can think of a select few that I have enjoyed. I think I would have enjoyed this novel more if it had been a prose story. It was hard for me to identify with the characters when we just see them in the small snippets of poems. I wouldn't hesitate to hand this to fans of novels in verse, though, and there are plenty of them out there.
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LibraryThing member skstiles612
This is a historical novel told in poetic form. I enjoyed it as much as I did her book “The Surrender Tree”. I didn’t know this part of history until I had read the book. The story is about Daniel, a Jew from Germany. His parents have taken all of their money and purchased a ticket for him to
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America. What none of them can know is that America has been denying access to the refuges. The ships are then sent on to Cuba. If Cuba denies them then they are sent back to Europe with the prospect of being sent to a concentration camp. Daniel is one of the lucky ones allowed to disembark in Cuba. He makes friends with Paloma. She discovers her fathers is an evil and crooked Cuban official. She lives in her dovecote with her birds to stay away from him. Daniel meets people along the way who help him learn to live not just survive. He also helps hide people during this time. This is a very emotional book. You feel for Daniel’s parents and realize the depth of their love for him. This is a book that will definitely go on my shelves for my students. I think this should be required reading in History classes. Show Less
LibraryThing member phh333
Beautifully written story of a young Jewish boy who escapes from Nazi Germany and heads across to North America. The boat he is on is turned away from Canada and the US so heads to Cuba. He befriends a young local girl and a Russian Jew. An interesting and little known piece of history.
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
I got this book from the library but have to get a real paper copy for myself because I need to pass this one around. This has to be one my top 5 reads for the year. It's a book written in verse about a 13 year old Jewish boy whose parents manage to get him out of Germany in 1939 on a refugee ship
"How can hatred have
such a beautiful name?
Crystal should be clear,
but on that dark night
the glass of broken windows
did not glitter."
Adjusting to a new land:
"I am not accustomed to buildings
with trees and flowers at the center
and a view of open sky
right in the middle of the house
where one would expect to find
a stone fireplace
and sturdy brick walls.
...here I am
in the sweaty tropics,
struggling to breathe humid air
that feels as thick as the steam
from a pot of my mother's
fragrant tea."
He meets a young girl named Paloma who loves birds and lives with her enterprising father El Gordo, named not for his girth but for the girth of his wallet. He is one deciding how much money in bribes will be necessary to allow refugees to land instead of being sent back to death in Europe. She secretly gives Daniel cool clothing meant for her tropical island rather than the warm German clothing he came with:
"and I give him one of my father's
many fine Panama hats,
an expensive jipijapa hat,
cool and comfortable
like a splendid circle of shade
from a portable tree."
They meet David, an older refugee from Russia who talks about a time when Carnival was
"cancelled when a Cuban official decided
the dances were too African,
too tribal...
but outlawing dance in Cuba
is like trying to hide the sun
with one finger."
Paloma describes the peace doves she is allowed to keep:
"the peace doves
are far too trusting
to survive in the wild
where hungry cats
pursue them."
There's lots of poetry about making music because Daniel comes from a musical family and loves making music himself with anything he has at hand from instruments made out of pots and pans or turtle shells to a donated guitar. He participates in Carnival with Paloma, but feels guilty when he finds it is a religious holiday. He is constantly torn between his young man's urge to celebrate life and his awareness of the evils of some humans and the yearning for peace and to be reunited with his family.
This is a book you can easily read in an hour but will want to draw out as long as possible
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bound for America. The ship was refused entry into both the US and Canada but, after paying bribes, refugees were allowed into Cuba. Only such simple, beautiful poetry could express so clearly what Daniel has left behind in Germany. Speaking of kristallnacht:"How can hatred have
such a beautiful name?
Crystal should be clear,
but on that dark night
the glass of broken windows
did not glitter."
Adjusting to a new land:
"I am not accustomed to buildings
with trees and flowers at the center
and a view of open sky
right in the middle of the house
where one would expect to find
a stone fireplace
and sturdy brick walls.
...here I am
in the sweaty tropics,
struggling to breathe humid air
that feels as thick as the steam
from a pot of my mother's
fragrant tea."
He meets a young girl named Paloma who loves birds and lives with her enterprising father El Gordo, named not for his girth but for the girth of his wallet. He is one deciding how much money in bribes will be necessary to allow refugees to land instead of being sent back to death in Europe. She secretly gives Daniel cool clothing meant for her tropical island rather than the warm German clothing he came with:
"and I give him one of my father's
many fine Panama hats,
an expensive jipijapa hat,
cool and comfortable
like a splendid circle of shade
from a portable tree."
They meet David, an older refugee from Russia who talks about a time when Carnival was
"cancelled when a Cuban official decided
the dances were too African,
too tribal...
but outlawing dance in Cuba
is like trying to hide the sun
with one finger."
Paloma describes the peace doves she is allowed to keep:
"the peace doves
are far too trusting
to survive in the wild
where hungry cats
pursue them."
There's lots of poetry about making music because Daniel comes from a musical family and loves making music himself with anything he has at hand from instruments made out of pots and pans or turtle shells to a donated guitar. He participates in Carnival with Paloma, but feels guilty when he finds it is a religious holiday. He is constantly torn between his young man's urge to celebrate life and his awareness of the evils of some humans and the yearning for peace and to be reunited with his family.
This is a book you can easily read in an hour but will want to draw out as long as possible
Show Less
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
After their ship was not allowed to dock in the United States or Canada, boatloads of Jewish refugees from Europe headed for the small island of Cuba. Some were allowed to disembark; others were not. In free verse, this tells the story of a teenage boy who left his family behind in Germany and
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learned to live in Cuba. Show Less
LibraryThing member GR8inD8N
"Music is the only part
of Cuba's heated air
that feels like something
I can breathe"
Lovely book about an aspect of the Holocaust of which I was unaware. Even though this is poetry, I think that even reluctant readers would do good as there are compelling reasons to finish this book and find out what
of Cuba's heated air
that feels like something
I can breathe"
Lovely book about an aspect of the Holocaust of which I was unaware. Even though this is poetry, I think that even reluctant readers would do good as there are compelling reasons to finish this book and find out what
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happens to the different characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
Narrated by four readers. Here's a book about an aspect of WWII history I hadn't heard about: Jewish refugees in Cuba. During the war Cuba took in 60,000 refugees, more than any other Latin American country and about as much as the United States. This poetry novel is told through four perspectives,
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the main one being Daniel, a 12-year-old boy sent off on the boat because his parents could only afford one passage. David is an older Ukraine Jew who sells ice cream and has lived in Cuba for decades. Young Paloma secretly assists the Quakers with the refugees, unbeknownst to her father, El Gordo, who profits from selling entry visas to the Jews. An intriguing story for what it means to be to be free. Show Less
ISBN
9780805089363