Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir

Engle, Margarita. (2015). Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Awards: YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Non-fiction Finalist, Pura Belpre Award, and Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree
Grade level: 4th-8th
Pages: 208
Genre: Non-fiction--Biography
Format: Poetry

Summary: Margarita is a Cuban-American girl who lives in the noisy and dynamic city of Los Angeles, CA. Being from two different nationalities makes Margarita feel awkward and she's always comparing both cultures. She feels like an outsider in her social life that she has "disappearing friends." She waits impatiently for summers to fly back to her lovely island, Cuba. In the 1960's, United States invades cuba at the Bay of Pigs and the Cold War begins. The US enforces a travel ban from and to Cuba making Margarita afraid for the safety of her faraway relatives. Being Cuban in the US during that period of time invited comments at school and visits from the government. Margarita questions if she would ever be able to return to the island again.

"Someday, surely I'll be free 

to return to the island of all my childhood 

dreams."

Reader's response: Enchanted Air is Margarita Engle's childhood memoir about growing up Cuban-American in the States, two different worlds. In the author's notes, Margarita mentions that she finally got to return to Cuba in 1991. She also adds a timeline of the Cold War with notes about political changes. This poetry non-fiction book can be use to teach cross curriculum activities between social studies and language arts. In language arts students can learn about writing and reading poetry, metaphors, and multiple meaning words, which are use frequently in this book. Students can also write their own memoirs just like Engle. For social studies, students can research about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis and create a timeline of the events.

Teaching Guide by Simon and Schuster 

Other books by Margarita Engle: