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What are the lessons for READERS in this text?

The reader is made to consider the human impact of big geopolitical events like the Cuban Missile Crisis. In this verse memoir, Engle is not simply rehashing the events of the conflict, but is showing us how these events made her feel as a young girl with ties to both nations. The reader learns the deep personal effects the crisis had on Engle and her family, which deepens their understanding of events.

Through the memoir, the reader learns what it was like for Engle to grow up in a multicultural family. Engle considers her Cuban side almost like a separate person, referring often to her "Cuban twin." This sense of split identity is exacerbated by the US/Cuba conflict, which prevents her from travelling to Cuba and seeing her family there.

What are the lessons for WRITERS in this text?

Writers can communicate a lot about their subject through their choice of perspective. Engle takes the perspective of herself as a young girl throughout the memoir, and does not insert her adult perspective at all. Her grappling with the Cold War is done so from her limited understanding of events as a child; for example, she refers to international relations as “friendships” between countries. This childlike perspective on events enables her to achieve one of her purposes in the book, which is questioning the very nature of conflicts like the Cold War. From the viewpoint of a child, these events seem nonsensical.

Different languages can be brought together into the same text to tell a story. In this memoir, Spanish words are interspersed with English. This  highlights the duality of Engle's multicultural identity, but also points to a certain dissonance or contrast between these two sides of herself, especially when the conflict between Cuba and America worsens.

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Soaring.

Two countries
Two Families
Two sets of words.

Travel.

Travel books
help me dream
of islands
Visits to Cuba
Palm-Leaf Raincoat
Northeast Los Angeles
Passports.
Fear.

Self.

It really is possible to feel
like two people.
I almost feel
like a part of me
still belongs.
Maybe I don’t belong after all.
Not completely.
Not anymore.

Listening
to horses.
My future.

Cuba.

Abuelita, Mami,
Garden horse.
Poisoned air,
Doomsday warnings.
Diplomacy succeeds. Words win.

It cannot be used for travel
To Cuba.

When?

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BEFORE:
The first two links will give readers a "macro" background of the political back drop of "Enchanted Air." The Ted Ed video will present why Cuba was important to America and Americans during this time period. The NY Times article will go into a bit more depth about the political changes occurring in Cuba during the 50s and 60s. "América" is a poem by Richard Blanco, himself a Cuban immigrant in the United States, and will be an opportunity to introduce ideas surrounding immigrants and displaced people, particularly Cubans, as well as introduce the poetic form which will reappear in "Enchanted Air."

Ted Ed video on the Cuban Missile Crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwWW3sbk4EU
NY Times Fidel Castro Obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/world/americas/fidel-castro-dies.html
América - Richard Blanco

AFTER:
These readings will present similar and slightly different viewpoints for students to digest after reading "Enchanted Air." Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" discusses similar themes of freedom, liberty, and difference. Zeccola's article discusses what it is like for American's to live in an environment which is politically hostile. "Americanized" would be another key text to read following "Enchanted Air," as it builds upon themes already introduced, like the effect of politics on the individual.

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou
"Growing Up American in Gaza" - Rebecca Zeccola
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card - Sara Saedi