Starred Review In plain, stirring free verse, Engle dramatizes the boyhood of the nineteenth-century Cuban slave Juan Francisco Manzano, who secretly learned to read and wrote poetry about beauty and courage in his world of unspeakable brutality. His present-tense narrative begins when he is six, when his parents are set free. He remains behind with a mistress who treats him like a pet, making him perform for guests. When she dies, five years later, he is given to a cruel, crazy woman, who has him beaten and locked up at whim. He doesn't escape until he is nearly 16. Side-by-side with Juan's anguished voice are the narratives of other characters, including his mother, his demonic owners, and the white child who secretly tries to help. Qualls' occasional black-and-white sketches express Juan's suffering and strength, and a brief afterword fills in historical background. Related in fast-moving poetry, the cruelty is vivid, as is the boy's amazing inner power: tied, gagged, and beaten, Juan knows his owner can't hear the stories I tell myself. Today's readers will hear the stories, though--and never forget them.

This biography in verse, based on Manzano's autobiographical notes, is a work of literary imagination. As a young enslaved boy, Juan impressed his owner with his memory, reciting Homer, opera, Latin sermons--and his own precociously lovely poetry. Engle alternates between Juan's perspective and those of his owners and his parents, painting a complex picture of growing up in bondage.

A work born out of love for the man and his poetry, this biography-in-verse pays tribute to Juan Francisco Manzano, who lived between 1797 and 1853. Like many verse novels, the biography is told through alternating points of view, including Juan's as he grows from childhood to adulthood. Separated from his mother and father, Juan is reared by a slaveholder who adores his genius with words. When he is 11, she passes away. Even though she promised him his freedom upon her death, he remains enslaved, this time to a mentally unbalanced woman who abuses him unmercifully. Amazingly, Juan sustains himself through the tiny kindnesses of others, brief opportunities to make art of any kind and an endless reservoir of hope. This powerful and accessible biography may significantly engage adolescent learners but it could be too brutal for sensitive elementary-school readers. Simple charcoal drawings accompany the text and capture its emotional and geographical atmosphere. (Biography. 10-14)

Engle (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Skywriting, for adults) achieves an impressive synergy between poetry and biography as she illuminates the tortured life of the 19th-century Cuban poet. Born a slave, Juan is kept like "a poodle, her pet/ with my curly dark hair/ and small child's brown skin," by his "godmother" and owner, Beatriz. She grants his birth parents manumission (for a price), while refusing to free Juan until her own death. Juan shows talent for memorization, and recites literature for Beatriz's amusement. Despite his mother's payment, Juan is transferred, at Beatriz's death, to another owner, the Marquesa de Prado Ameno, who punishes Juan cruelly. There he also secretly learns to read and write—posing a threat to the Marquesa and the social order. Engle's compelling poems shift in viewpoint among seven people, and the technique works beautifully: readers thus draw their own conclusions from Juan, his desperate parents, brutal owners, the Marquesa's sympathetic son and the conflicted Overseer. Juan's poems articulate both his enduring pain and dream of release ("I sit tied and gagged./ She is there, behind the curtain./ .../ She can't hear the stories I tell myself in secret"), while recurring bird imagery signifies elusive freedom. Quall's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Baby on the Way) expressionistic half-tone illustrations extend Engle's exploration of race as a cornerstone of the social caste in Spanish colonial Cuba. (Juan and his family are dark-skinned; the women who own him use a powder of crushed eggshells and rice to lighten their complexion.) An author's note and excerpts from Manzano's own poetry round out this sophisticated volume. Ages 10-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Apr.)

Gr 7 Up-This is an absolutely lovely book about the unlovely subject of slavery. It is the biography of an extraordinary young man, with extraordinary intellectual powers, who was born into slavery in Cuba in 1797. Told in verse, it recounts the sufferings and trials of Manzano. As a boy, he was capable of memorizing and reciting poetic verses in many different languages. He could recount epic tales read to him, and in this way served as the entertainment for his mistress and her many guests. Later, when he became the property of a crueler mistress, his talents helped him endure numerous beatings and confinements. It is amazing that he was able to survive, and even more astonishing that he was able to maintain his humanity and his sensitive poetic nature. Manzano's sufferings are almost too painful to read about, but the experience is made bearable by Engle's skillful use of verse. Qualls's drawings are suitably stark and compelling, wonderfully complementing the text. This is an exceptional book on two levels. First, it introduces Manzano to an American public. Second, it introduces readers to slavery as it was practiced in a country other than the United States. Both are noteworthy. This is a book that should be read by young and old, black and white, Anglo and Latino.-Carol Jones Collins, Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

This lyrical biography of a little-known African Cuban slave highlights a seldom scrutinized period in Cuban history and is told in seven voices: that of the poet himself, his white owner, his owner's son, the poet's biological parents, the poet's godmother, and the plantation overseer. The poet slave was born into the household of a wealthy plantation and slave owner in Cuba in 1797, and although he is denied an education, he is a bright and observant child who learns much by watching others. Early on, he demonstrates a remarkable talent for poetry. Juan's original owner is kind, indulges him, and calls him her "own baby," but she often treats him more like a pampered pet. She eventually grants him his freedom, but upon her death, Juan's godmother, a cruel and capricious woman, takes arbitrary control and continues his enslavement, making the young man's life a hellish ordeal. Despite years of physical and mental abuse, Juan's ever hopeful spirit remains strong and focused on attaining his freedom. Eventually and against all odds, the courageous youth makes his getaway on horseback. Juan's literary genius is evident in the excerpts of his poems and although many of his autobiographical notes have been lost, it is known that he became an inspiring and influential writer much admired for the intrinsic beauty and sensitivity of his works and for his profound honesty and goodness. In impassioned and eloquent free verse, Engle captures not only the deep sensibilities of the various characters but also the enervating atmosphere of nineteenth-century Cuba. This captivating and bittersweet book is an exultant hymn to the resilience and strength of the human spirit, and it will make an wonderful addition to any young adult collection.-Delia Culberson.