WEBVTT

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My first historical verse
novel for young people

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was about a man who wrote poetry
while he was still a slave.

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I wrote it because I
admired his courage,

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and I also admired the
courage of Rosa La Bayamesa.

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This is why I wrote The
Surrender Tree because I

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think that what she did--

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you've the book, right?

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Yay, thank you teachers.

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It makes it so much
easier to talk to you.

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What she did in deciding
to heal the soldiers

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from both sides in a war, not
just the soldiers from the side

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she agreed with, to
me, that's amazing.

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That took courage.

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And it took kindness,
and that combination

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of courage and kindness
that we sometimes

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find in amazing
people from history

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deserves to be remembered.

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Rosa La Bayamesa is not
very famous, even in Cuba.

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She's certainly not famous
in the United States,

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but I feel like she should be.

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In my writing, I hope to help
bring her back from having

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been lost by history.

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Imagine choosing to hide in
caves and jungles for 30 years

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through three wars just so
that you could help people.

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I know I'm not brave enough, I
know I'm not generous enough,

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and that's why I
admire her so much.

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I'd like to just read a
few poems from this book,

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and because I'm fortunate
enough to have a dual language

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edition here, I
will read several

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in English scattered
through the book

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and then maybe one in Spanish.

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