WEBVTT

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In my other books
about Cuba, I've

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imagined the voices
of brave young people

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who made hopeful
choices in times

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that must have seemed hopeless.

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Some of the characters are
fictional, but most of them

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are real people from history.

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And I'm going to skip through
just some book covers,

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and actually not talk about
them in great detail right now.

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But I would like to mention
that this one is not

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a famous historical figure.

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This one is about
my own grandmother.

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I wrote the stories that she
told me about her childhood,

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growing up in Cuba on a farm,
during the period immediately

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following the surrender
treaty, just a few years later.

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She was born, she
lived a very long time.

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And she lived over 100 years--

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104.

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So she actually saw
well into this century.

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Imagine the changes
from just a few years

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after the surrender treaty
to having passed away

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just a few years ago.

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Imagine how much change one
person can see in their life.

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But she lived in
very turbulent times.

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There was a lot
of chaos following

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the last of those wars after
the Americans occupied Cuba.

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And she also had dyslexia.

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So it was a struggle for her
to learn to read and write.

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And I wanted to write the
stories that she told me

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about those struggles.

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Every day each one
of us makes choices

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that affect other people.

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Wondering how others feel can
be one of our best guidelines

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for our choices.

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That is what a writer
does-- wonders.

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So in writing The
Surrender Tree,

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I wondered what did it feel
like to be Rosa la Bayamesa

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or to be Silvia, to live
in that time and place.

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And writing The Wild Book, I
wondered about my grandmother's

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feelings.

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I also wonder about the
sights, sounds, smells,

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tastes thoughts and
actions of my characters.

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