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“Perfect for history buffs, dance enthusiasts, poets, and just about anyone looking for a great story.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
From the Young People’s Poet Laureate Margarita Engle comes a searing novel in verse about the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943.
Thousands of young Navy sailors are pouring into Los Angeles on their way to the front lines of World War II. They are teenagers, scared, longing to feel alive before they have to face the horrors of battle. Hot jazz music spiced with cool salsa rhythms beckons them to dance with the local Mexican American girls, who jitterbug all night before working all day in the canneries. Proud to do their part for the war effort, these Jazz Owl girls are happy to dance with the sailors—until the blazing summer night when racial violence leads to murder.
Suddenly the young white sailors are attacking the girls’ brothers and boyfriends. The cool, loose zoot suits they wear are supposedly the reason for the violence—when in reality the boys are viciously beaten and arrested simply because of the color of their skin.
In soaring images and searing poems, this is the breathtaking story of what became known as the Zoot Suit Riots.
From the Young People’s Poet Laureate Margarita Engle comes a searing novel in verse about the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943.
Thousands of young Navy sailors are pouring into Los Angeles on their way to the front lines of World War II. They are teenagers, scared, longing to feel alive before they have to face the horrors of battle. Hot jazz music spiced with cool salsa rhythms beckons them to dance with the local Mexican American girls, who jitterbug all night before working all day in the canneries. Proud to do their part for the war effort, these Jazz Owl girls are happy to dance with the sailors—until the blazing summer night when racial violence leads to murder.
Suddenly the young white sailors are attacking the girls’ brothers and boyfriends. The cool, loose zoot suits they wear are supposedly the reason for the violence—when in reality the boys are viciously beaten and arrested simply because of the color of their skin.
In soaring images and searing poems, this is the breathtaking story of what became known as the Zoot Suit Riots.
27 Reviews
3.5
A
Created 6 months agoShare
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“This book in verse is about the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in 1943 and a Mexican American family whose three children get caught up in the middle of it. The two teenage daughters work long hours for a pittance and then are escorted by their younger brother to dance all night with sailors who are being sent to fight in World War II. The trio's older brother is serving in an unknown location.
Early on in the war effort, Americans were conserving lots of different things, including fabric. However, young people into the jazz scene wore "zoot suits" that hung loosely so they could dance easily. These suits were seen as a waste, and the kids who wore them, predominantly if the Latino community, were seen as unpatriotic. One night, the sailors go out and terrorize the zoot suiters, being them senseless, stripping them of their clothes, and humiliating them.
This fictional account of a true event is told in the form of poetry. At first, I was skeptical about this, but I was immediately hooked and devoured it in just a couple of hours. The emotions jump off the page as you read about the kids' experiences with racism, discrimination, unsafe working conditions, and hate.”
Damore
Created 11 months agoShare
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Laurrichards
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“The writing of this book is so creative! It makes me want to write a narrative through poetry. Enjoyed also how it was historical fiction, very imaginative and important”
Blondelibrarian
Created over 1 year agoShare
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“The race riots over zoot suits, the people who wore them, and the prejudices that compelled soldiers to act out.”
About Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Rima’s Rebellion; Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; The Lightning Dreamer; and Wild Dreamers, a Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor book. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.
Other books by Margarita Engle
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