Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle

Hurricane Dancers

by Margarita Engle

Image Credit: Hurricane Dancers at https://www.kirkusreviews.com

1. Bibliography

Engle, Margarita. Hurricane Dancers. New York: Henry Holt, 2011. ISBN 9780805092400

2. Plot Summary

Newbery Honor author Engle (The Surrender Tree, 2008) spins three intertwined tales in frequently lyrical free verse. In the Caribbean in 1509, the cruel pirate Bernardino de Talavera has captured brutal Alonso de Ojeda, governor of Venezuela and a former conquistador. Mixed-race slave boy Quebrado, whose name means “broken,” works on Talavera’s ship as a translator and deckhand. When a hurricane sinks the ship, the three find themselves washed up individually on an island inhabited by naturales, native Ciboney Indians. Caucubú, a chieftain’s daughter, wants desperately to avoid an arranged marriage and to pursue her love for Naridó, a fisherman. (Summary Credit: Hurricane Dancers at kirkusreviews.com)

3. Critical Analysis

The characters come from different backgrounds but are mostly based on historical figures.  The ship captain is the first pirate of the Caribbean Sea and is mostly an evil character however they give some context to his villainy.  The pirate’s hostage is a brutal conquistador who only cares about the riches to be made from any situation.  The young main character is the pirate’s slave, a young boy of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry.  The balance of the good versus evil is predictable but necessary to drive the conflict of the story.

The story takes place on a pirate ship and in the Caribbean Sea before, during and after a hurricane.  The setting is set by the inclusion of the environment and plant life (swamp, palm trees, and orchids) and animal life (parrot, macaw, turtles, bats, spiders, iguana and crocodiles).  And, you get a sense of the time period in which the story is set (palm frond torches, weaving palm fronds for the roof, and sphere court – a sport used to settle disputes played with a ball made out of sap and cotton).

The cultural details help envision the setting, time period and life of the people within the story.  The conquistador mentions taking slaves from ‘Hispaniola’ to Spain to sell them as ‘curiosities’.  The natives of the island wear loincloths, white cotton skits, necklaces of spiky barracuda teeth and decorate their faces with fiery designs made from paints made from bija seeds jagua fruit.  They mound soft red mud into hills and dig holes with a sharp stick to plant.  The slave boy says his mother’s people used to settle disputes by ‘trading names’. There are a few words in Spanish throughout the story that are immediately translated (cu ba – Big Friend, gua iro – land man, caciue – leader, behiques – healer, turey – sky).  And, the names of the characters help get the feeling for place.  The historical characters are Bernardino de Talavera (the pirate) and Alonso de Ojeda (the conquistador). The main character, the slave boy who starts out as Quebrado (broken one), is called Hurara (born of wind) by the island people) and finally names himself Yacuyo (Far Light).

Further cultural references that enhance the story are the food (guava, ginger, vanilla, spicy pepper seeds, sweet potatoes, corn, peanuts, papayas, pineapple, fish, lizards, wild manioc tubers, toasted cassava bread, lobster and shark).  They celebrate by dancing in a circle, using instruments painted with fire designs, painting their faces with red zigzags and black spheres.  They dance to ward off the Woman of Wind and her beast Huracan (hurricane) and they wear dance masks made from manatee bones.  The Spanish conquistador prays to Santiago, the patron of my homeland. And, music is a major factor in the daily lives of the characters.  The pirates use flutes, drums, ships bells, a chanted story, and a heroic song. The island people use hollow-gourd rattles, bird-bone flutes and tree-trunk drums all of which help bring a rich portrayal of a people, place and time.

4. Review Experts

~Pura Belpre Honor Book

~ALA Notable Children’s Book

~ From Kirkus Review: Engle continues to explore issues of captivity and freedom in the historical setting of her ancestors. She tells her tale in the alternating voices of her five main characters, all of whom are historical figures save Quebrado. Quebrado warns the Ciboney about the dangerous Spaniards, and the two are cast out. He helps the young lovers flee and claims true and total freedom for himself. Taken individually the stories are slight, but they work together elegantly; the notes and back matter make this a great choice for classroom use.

~From Publishers Weekly: Newbery Honor–winner Engle (The Surrender Tree) continues to find narrative treasure in Cuban history. Like her other novels in verse, this one is told in multiple voices (too many, in fact), some based on historical figures. The story, based on historical events, feels too rich for Engle's spare, broken-line poetry. Still, 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.

5. Connections

~Read other books by Margarite Engle including:

            The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. ISBN 9780312608712

            Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. ISBN 148143523X

            The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist. ISBN 9780544541122

            Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal. ISBN 0544668707

            The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. ISBN 9780312659288

~History – Research the historical characters Alonso de Ojeda and Bernardino de Talavera

~History – Build a timeline for early Spanish conquest and colonization.

~Geography – Talk about countries in the Caribbean.

~Science – Look up and talk about how a hurricane is created and what are the effects of a hurricane.