My first historical verse novel for young people
was about a man who wrote poetry while he was still a slave.
I wrote it because I admired his courage,
and I also admired the courage of Rosa La Bayamesa.
This is why I wrote The Surrender Tree because I
think that what she did--
you've the book, right?
Yay, thank you teachers.
It makes it so much easier to talk to you.
What she did in deciding to heal the soldiers
from both sides in a war, not just the soldiers from the side
she agreed with, to me, that's amazing.
That took courage.
And it took kindness, and that combination
of courage and kindness that we sometimes
find in amazing people from history
deserves to be remembered.
Rosa La Bayamesa is not very famous, even in Cuba.
She's certainly not famous in the United States,
but I feel like she should be.
In my writing, I hope to help bring her back from having
been lost by history.
Imagine choosing to hide in caves and jungles for 30 years
through three wars just so that you could help people.
I know I'm not brave enough, I know I'm not generous enough,
and that's why I admire her so much.
I'd like to just read a few poems from this book,
and because I'm fortunate enough to have a dual language
edition here, I will read several
in English scattered through the book
and then maybe one in Spanish.