Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics, by Margarita Engle, Illustrated by Rafael Lopez

 Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics, by Margarita Engle, Illustrated by Rafael Lopez, is a collection of poems that were written about various Hispanic and Latino people, including ones who are famous for their achievements, and those who are not. The purpose of this collection is to highlight these remarkable hispanic people who changed the course of history in whatever way they could, from a Hispanic american revolutionary, to a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player who was born in Puerto Rico. This representation is key to educating young people about the different people from different times, places, and cultures than our own. 

This book is intended for young people of all backgrounds, races, cultures, and ethnicities, though it seems likely that it is particularly intended for young hispanic people who may long to see themselves represented in works of literature. This book could best be used with its intended audience in a library setting, perhaps during history or poetry related programming, or for a poetry reading to kick off National Hispanic History Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15. 

In terms of scope, the works are exclusively by Margarita Engle, though the collection has illustrations of each individual that the poems are about by Rafael Lopez. There are eighteen poems, each with an accompanying portrait of the person the poem is about. The types of poetry are generally the same. 

Frankly, the works in this collection felt more like short biographies than poetry. There’s little in the way of rhyme, meter, rhythm, etc. The real highlight of this book are the portraits, which depict semi-realistic pictures of each hispanic person who features in this book. Each poem is accompanied by one of these colorful pictures, as well as a less realistic image on the pages with the poems. There is not a table of contents in this book. It appears that the poems are organized by when the person the poem is about lived. There is some important backmatter at the end, which features short, non-poetic biographies of the people who are featured in the book, as well as some latino people who were not featured in a work of poetry, such as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, and mathematician Jaime Escalante.

Engle, M., & López, R. (2017). Bravo!: Poems about amazing hispanics. Godwin Books, Henry Holt and Company.