As the Panama Canal turns one hundred, Newbery Honor winner Margarita Engle tells the story of its creation in this powerful new YA historical novel in verse.
One hundred years ago, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower. It was a miracle, this path of water where a mountain had stood—and creating a miracle is no easy thing. Thousands lost their lives, and those who survived worked under the harshest conditions for only a few silver coins a day.
From the young "silver people" whose back-breaking labor built the Canal to the denizens of the endangered rainforest itself, this is the story of one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, as only Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle could tell it.
MATEO from the island of Cuba
JOB HUNT
Fear is a fierce wind
that sends me reeling
down to the seashore,
where I beg for work,
any work at all,
any escape
to carry me far
from my father’s
furious fists.
Sailor.
Fisherman.
Lobster trapper.
I’m willing to take any job
that floats me away
from home.
I am not an ordinary war orphan.
Papi is alive, but the family part
of his mind
is deeply wounded.
He drinks so much rum
that he believes I am
his enemy—a Spaniard
from the country
that lost the war
and left so many
of its soldiers
behind.
Spanish veterans
flock the seashore, begging
for the same jobs that lure me.
I’m only fourteen, but I’m strong
for a starving boy.
So I shove and curse
along with the crowd
of muscular men, all of us
equally eager to reach
a fast-talking americano
Panamá Canal recruiter
who promises food, houses,
and money,
so much money . . .
The recruiter shouts and pounds
his fists in the air.
His foreign accent
makes the words sound powerful
as he describes a wild jungle
where men who are hired
will dig the Eighth Wonder
of the World.
He says the canal is a challenge
worthy of Hercules,
a task for giants,
not ordinary men,
but when he unrolls a map,
Panamá is barely
a sliver.
How can such a narrow
bridge of land
be so important?
After the confusing map,
there are pamphlets with pictures
of tidy houses, the orderly dining rooms
offering comforting details
that catch my eye.
Lacy curtains and tablecloths,
flowers in vases,
plates heaped with food . . .
So much food.
Barriga llena, corazón contento.
Full belly, happy heart.
That’s what Mami used to say,
before cholera claimed
her happiness
and mine.
With the flair of a magician,
the recruiter tosses two sun-shiny coins
up and down in his hand,
until the gold
American dollars
ring out like church bells
or kettledrums in a parade.
Those musical coins lure me
deeper into the crowd of pushing,
rushing, desperate, job-hungry strangers,
but as soon as I reach for the recruiter’s
paper and pen, ready to sign my name
on a contract, the blond man glares
at my green eyes, brown face,
and curly hair, as if struggling
to figure out who I am.
No cubanos, he shouts. No islanders,
just pure Spanish,
semi-blanco, semi-white—
European. Civilized.
His words make no sense.
Isn’t semi-white the same
as semi-dark?
So I start telling lies.
I let my skin fib.
I point out that my father
is blondish and my mother
was the tan of toasted wheat,
her hair long and silky,
her eyes as blue-green
as the sea,
just like mine.
Then I invent an imaginary village
in Spain, for my birthplace,
and I give my age
as twenty,
and I show off
my muscles,
pretending to feel
brave . . .
By the time I board
a dragon-smoky
Panamá Craze steamship,
I’ve already told so many lies
that my conscience feels
as hollow
as my belly.
Winner of the 2015 Américas Award
A Jane Addams Award Honor Book
Green Earth Book Awards Honor Book
* "A masterful command of language and space. . . Engle blends the voices of her fictional characters, historical figures, and even the forest into a dynamic coming-of-age story not only of young adults but also of a blustering and arrogant United States."
—VOYA, 5Q 5P M J S
* "Engle's extraordinary book is a tour de force of verisimilitude and beautifully realized verse that brings to empathetic life the silver people."
—Booklist, starred review
"As always, Engle's poetry captures with sympathetic wonder and delicate beauty the plight of these disenfranchised voices; here in particular she highlights the natural beauty and love that Mateo, Anita, and Henry find and cling to in the midst of their back- and heart-breaking labor."
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"In melodic verses, Engle offers the voices of three [Panama Canal] workers…Taken together, they provide an illuminating picture of the ecological sacrifices and human costs behind a historical feat generally depicted as a triumph."
—Horn Book Magazine
"This richly developed novel is an excellent addition to any collection. In this compelling story, Engle paints a picture of an often [over]-looked area and highlights the struggles of the people and the arrogance of the Americans."
—School Library Journal
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year
An NCTE Notable Book in the English Language Arts
ALSC Notable Books in the Social Sciences
CCBC Choice Fiction for Young Adults
CCBC Global Reading list
Best Multicultural Books, Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature
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