So if in the Cuban Missile Crisis,
if the Russians were the people that actually put up
the missiles, why did the Cubans get blamed for it?
That's a good question.
There were actually missiles, United States missiles,
in Turkey, pointed at Russia, also.
So it was actually a situation involving several countries,
and yet, here in the United States,
the name has been given to that incident that only names Cuba.
It's called the Cuban Missile Crisis in the United States.
That's not what it's called in Cuba,
so that's a really good question.
In Cuba, it's called the October Crisis.
And in Russia it's called the Caribbean Crisis.
So there are different ways of looking
at the exact same historical event,
depending on where you live.
What made you want to become a writer?
I love reading.
I just love reading, and ever since I was little,
I've loved books.
And sometimes, there's something I
want to learn about or read about,
and there isn't a book yet.
So for instance, Rosa la Bayamesa,
there wasn't a book about her.
I wanted to know about her, I wanted to read about her.
The only way I could get a book to read about her
is to write it.
And what inspired you the most?
Well, really, those childhood visits to Cuba
have inspired me the most, because those
helped me to feel connected to both cultures
that I wanted to write about.
Going back as an adult really inspired me, also.
Travel, in other words, along with reading,
is one of the biggest inspirations.
I can tell you, I never would have
written a book about orangutans if I hadn't been to Borneo.
I just wouldn't have seen them up close
in the same, exciting way.
It's not the same as seeing them in a zoo,
to see them in the wild.
So travel is, really a huge inspiration.
Yo quisiera saber más de los libros que usted ha escrito en
toda su vida.
Ay, bueno, gracias.
The question was, the books that I've written in my life.
El libro de mi abuela, The Wild Book,
el de los cuentos de la niñez de mi abuela para mí es lo más
importante.
De todos mis libros, ese es el que--
Es el más personal.
So I'm answering that, the book that
means the most to me, of the ones I've written,
is The Wild Book, because it's about my own grandmother.
And because it's so personal, that means the most to me.
Gracias.
Thank you.
How did it come that you were able to hold a sea turtle?
You know, I visited a place--
that's a good question, because you're not
supposed to just go around, picking up wild animals.
That's not very nice.
But I visited a place where sea turtles were being raised
to be returned to the wild, to increase their populations,
and I was allowed to pick that one up.
So good question.
Out of all your books, where you wrote all the good things
that happened and all the bad things.
So while writing about the bad thing,
did it make you feel better?
That's a really good question.
First it makes you feel worse, because it's sad.
And you have to--
I mean, imagine writing in the voice of Lieutenant Death, that
wasn't fun.
He was a real slave hunter, he left a diary, that I'd read.
Just reading his diary made me sad and angry,
and then to have to write in his voice.
But I didn't want to leave out that part of the story,
because it was an important part.
I didn't want to pretend that there weren't really
people like him, so I had to go through that sadness
and anger, and then come out feeling better
on the other side once it's on paper.
Yes.
Have you ever had anybody say, I know that your books will never
be published, and that nobody will ever
like to read your books?
Oh, yes.
If you're going to be a writer, you have to expect rejection,
and that happens all the time.
I still get rejections sometimes,
not as often as I used to.
But in the early years of a writers,
submitting work for publication, there will be rejections.
Nobody has instant acceptance of every manuscript,
it just doesn't happen.
But the thing is that you can't let it get you discouraged.
I mean, it's going to hurt, but you keep trying.
And if you give up, then you'll never
know whether you could have eventually.
I like to think of it as being very similar to dating.
You just have to find the right editor.
Just because not every boy in the whole school
likes the same girl, doesn't mean that somebody is not
going to like her.
And just because not every editor in the whole world
likes the same book, doesn't mean that one editor won't, one
editor might fall in love with that book
and really work to get it out there.
And that's what you need, is you find the perfect match.
So it is, in a way, kind of like dating.
What inspires you, when you make the title of your book,
what inspires you to name a book in a certain way?
Like you did with the Surrender Tree.
What inspired you to write that?
That's a good question.
The Surrender Tree I named for the tree
where the Cubans were not allowed
to raise their flag when the Spaniards surrendered
to the Americans.
Because, that to me, is a big part of US,
Cuba relations, ever since.
And Silver People, for instance, my new book,
I named the Silver People because the Caribbean Islanders
who were taken to Panama to dig the canal
were paid in silver, while the Americans were paid in gold.
So the people who received the lower status,
it really shows you what it feels like to be a second class
citizen.
And they were actually called silver people,
whereas Americans were called gold people.
And that's not right.
So the title relates to something in the story.
And do you have any ideas for the names of the books
that you talked about, coming out like a year from now?
Do you have any ideas for the titles of those books?
Yes, the one coming out about the girl who was brave enough,
at the age of 10.
She started playing drums, even though only men were
supposed to play drums, is called Drum Dream Girl.
And the one about, let's see, my memoir is not fully,
I'm not sure.
I've just written a memoir about my traveling
back and forth to Cuba as a child.
And that's just recently been accepted,
so it's still in the editing process,
so they can't say for sure yet.
I know what title I've chosen, but I don't know that the--
it's not just the editor, who has to agree,
but the marketing department at the Publishing House.
So it goes through a whole process.
There's a point at which, your book becomes teamwork,
and you're working with a lot of other people.
Especially if it has illustrations.
Drum Dream Girl has illustrations,
so that book belongs to the artist as much
as it does to me.
Thank you.
What age were you when you weren't
able to visit Cuba anymore?
My last summer visit, well, let's see.
The missile crisis was when I was 11.
So I went into junior high with a completely different life
than I'd had as a younger child.
With a life where, I only had contact
with my American family, not my Cuban family.
So I lost the huge extended family network and those summer
visits.
And it was it was really, a very difficult thing for me.
How do you think people like our age,
how could we relate to something like that?
Well, I guess you could imagine if your parents suddenly
made you move to, let's see, what's
the farthest you can get?
OK.
Yeah, move halfway around the world,
and you could never see your relatives and friends.
Thank you.
Why did you wrote the book?
Which one?
The Surrender Tree?
I wrote The Surrender Tree, because I
admire the courage of Rosa la Bayamesa,
to stay hiding in the jungle for 30 years,
just so she could help people by curing them, by being a nurse.
Thank you.
Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring, young poets?
Yes, write from the heart, write about the things
that are important to you.
Don't try and copy anyone else.
Just be yourself, be yourself on paper.
Don't try and copy the people whose books are popular,
right now.
Because the truth is, 10 years from now, what's popular
will change.
One year from now, what's popular will change.
So just be yourself and practice.
Read and practice.
How, in what ways, are you and Sylvia and your grandmother
connected?
My grandmother, is in a different book.
Wasn't it that that, Sylvia was a model of your grandmother.
That you put her there because of your grandmother.
And your author's notes.
Oh, in the very beginning, I mentioned
that my great grandmother and great grandfather
were some of the people who had to be in those camps.
But they were already adults at that time,
so Sylvia is really inspired more by the children who
were in the camps.
She is not modeled after a specific family member,
she represents, for me, the entire group
of children who would have been in that situation.
Thank you.
Now that our class has learned about Cuba's rough journey
to modern times, what can we do to help Cuban people today?
Oh, thank you.
I think the best thing that--
most things are limited by the Trade and Travel Embargo,
so you can't just send things to Cuba.
Like medicines, and it's very difficult
to do that sort of thing.
But if you write letters to president Obama,
asking for normal diplomatic relations,
for talks between the countries, I think that would help a lot.
Thank you.
Given that you're the first Latina awarded the Newbery
Honor, are there any Latina writers that inspire you?
Yes, Tomas Rivera, my professor, did inspire me a great deal,
and many poets have inspired me.
There's so many poets whose work I just love,
and they're all in that library.
So if you have a chance to explore, they're hundreds,
so I can't just name one.
But José Martí, who is quoted in various parts of The Surrender
Tree, there are excerpts of his work.
José Martí certainly did inspire me a lot.
Thank you.
Have you ever considered The Surrender Tree
in another medium, such as a play, film, or opera?
I would never have thought of it, myself,
but the Graduate School of Theater at Yale University
did a dinner theater production of The Surrender Tree,
a few years ago.
Where they actually serve people dinner
while they watch the play.
And they built a tree for the actors
to climb in, for the play.
And they did masks, they made masks and wrote original music
for it.
So it was a musical play.
Thank you.
After loving The Surrender Tree, which one of your books
should we read next?
Thank you, oh, thank you.
I hope that you will read Silver People, because it not only has
the story of the suffering of the laborers, who
were taken to dig the Panama Canal exactly 100 years ago.
This is the centennial, this is the 100th anniversary
of the Panama Canal opening.
But it also teaches a lot of rainforest biology.
There are poems in here, and the voices
of a lot of different plants and animals,
that I think you could learn a lot about tropical rainforest
from.
And every time you order something
to be delivered the next day, you
go online you click next day delivery,
you just take that for granted.
If you stop and think about it, before those things, made
in China and made in Asia, get close enough,
a video game set, for instance.
Get close enough-- or a book.
To you.
To be delivered the next day, first it
has to come, very slowly, through that same Panama Canal
that was built 100 years ago.
With hundreds of thousands of Caribbean Islanders,
laboring with shovels under very difficult circumstances.
And I think that, I really would love
to honor the memory of those people who
worked so hard to dig it and were not honored at the time.
Thank you.
So the two of us are warring generals, police, oppression.
And I'm in dunbar overthrow.
O'dell, why don't you tell them who you are.
I'm Lieutenant Death.
What do you have on your face, there?
I got attacked by a wild wolf.
But in the book, it wasn't really a wolf, right?
It was just a dog.
Looks like Letty is wearing a tunic,
from the time, and a straw hat.
Serena's got a great armband.
Angelique wrote her own poem, based on Sylvia's poem.
And then, can turn around, for us?
And that's because, Rosa's like a guardian
angel for the Cuban people.
Now, Chris is wearing a book cover rendition.
Wow.
It was actually done by Alejandro Monroe, in art class.
And then, can you show us the back?
Waterfall.
Beautiful.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
Star has a vest, looks like she's been fighting
in the jungle for a while.
And Gabe looks like he's seen better days,
maybe he just escaped from one of the reconcentration camps.
And lastly, Alejandro has a sash with The Surrender Tree painted
on it.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much, your guys.
That's fantastic.
Thank you all, so much.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
Thank you, and we'll see you at your follow-up, matinee visits.