Wings in the Wild
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Synopsis
Winged beings are meant to be free. And so are artists, but the Cuban government has criminalized any art that doesn’t meet their approval. Soleida and her parents protest this injustice with their secret sculpture garden of chained birds. Then a hurricane exposes the illegal art, and her parents are arrested.
Soleida escapes to Central America alone, joining the thousands of Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica while seeking asylum elsewhere. There she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy whose enigmatic music enchants birds and animals—and Soleida.
Together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba. Soon they discover that love isn’t about falling—it’s about soaring together to new heights. But wings can be fragile, and Soleida and Dariel come from different worlds. They are fighting for a better future—and the chance to be together.
Release date: April 18, 2023
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Print pages: 221
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Wings in the Wild
Margarita Engle
TOCORORO-GIRL
Soleida
age 16
Cuba
2018
Aviary
Winged beings are meant to be free,
not caged.
At the heart of our dilapidated seaside home
in the central courtyard—hidden by walls—
we have a secret museum of living statues
carved from the growing limbs
of richly hued native trees.
Deep reddish-brown mahogany like my skin,
midnight-black ebony like my eyes, and radiant
golden majagua like my sunny name.
This last tree is a wild hibiscus
with yellow flowers that attract
tiny emerald zunzunes
and their minuscule cousins
los zunzuncitos, this island’s endemic
bee hummingbirds, the smallest pajaritos
on Earth, found nowhere else, just Cuba.
¡Ay, Cuba! How we suffer here, surrounded
by imprisoned beauty.
Art Crimes
The problem with our sculpture garden
is that the statues are illegal.
Mami and Papi are dissidents—protesters
who crave
artistic liberty.
Visiting birds come and go freely
by zooming high above the coral stone walls
but we
are in a cage
imposed by Ley 349,
a decree that bans any art
that protests the banning
of art.
Carved Wingbeats
The tocororo is Cuba’s national bird.
Blue, white, and red, like our flag.
He perches and flicks his tail
back and forth
in a dance
of love.
Everyone knows that los tocororos
cannot survive in captivity.
That is why, each time I pose
as the inspiration for his sculpted form
I feel like a symbol
of liberty.
Winged, rooted, and chained,
my tocororo-self tries to fly
but always fails.
Only freedom of expression for artists
will transform these statues.
Only then will my parents cut the carved chains
that keep my winged image from soaring.
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