The George Wright Society: What brought you to George Meléndez Wright’s story? What follows is an abridged and lightly edited version of our conversation. On the page highlighting Julia De Burgos, it says, “I struggled to become a teacher and a poet, so I could use words to fight for equal rights for women, and work toward meeting the needs of poor children, and speak of independence for Puerto Rico.” Another page highlights Arnold Rojas, a cowboy, and says, “My Mexican ancestors included Yaqui and Maya indios, people who fought to stay free and live in their own traditional ways.” These quotes show just two of the many cultures represented in the text.As long admirers of Engle and López’s work in Bravo!-and in particular, of their portrayal of George Meléndez Wright, the first Hispanic hired to a professional position within the National Park Service-we were thrilled to get the chance to speak with them in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. A variety of cultures are represented in the book, so this text can be used when talking about many different cultures. Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book can be used to highlight important people in the different Spanish-speaking cultures. This book could be introduced by asking students what they know about Spanish-speaking individuals’ contributions to history and then building off of their answers. The stories of specific individuals can be used to supplement lessons and/or units on events such as the American Revolution, Civil Wars, music, medical advancements, and even minorities in baseball. Many of the stories mention wars, slavery, injustice, and immigration. This story is written in free-verse poetry and the illustrations are done in pen, ink, watercolor, construction paper, and acrylic on wood.Ĭlassroom Application: This text can be used to talk about social science and Spanish-speaking individuals’ contributions to many different fields. Most of the words in the story are easy words, any students reading this would benefit from a general knowledge of history, although it is not strictly necessary. At the end of the story is a list of many more influential Spanish-speaking people and a more descriptive paragraph about each of the individuals featured.

The individuals in the text range from poets to doctors, musicians to astronauts, pilots to cowboys. A better term would be Spanish-speakers). Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Culture, Diversity, Poetry, Picture Book, K-5, Non-fiction, Social Scienceĭescriptive Annotation: Bravo! is a biographical story that highlights many influential Hispanics (this is the term the author uses however, the story does include individuals from countries other than Spain.

Publisher and Year: Henry Holt and Company 2017

Title: Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics

Bravo! by Margarita Engle