Hurricane Dancers was written by Margarita Engle and published in 2011. In 2012, it won the Pura Belpre Author Honor book award. The entire story is told through a series of poems. Quebrado has spent his life bouncing around from pirate ship to pirate ship feeling like an outsider. On Captain Bernardino de Talavera’s ship, Quebrado is used as a translator until a horrible shipwreck that claims the lives of most of the crew onboard. Quebrado escapes to safety and then must learn to live on the land among new locals.
Since this novel is written entirely in poems, it would be a good mentor text for students to use to write their own poetry. Students could choose two or three poems from the novel as a model. Then they could create their own series of short poems that tell one cohesive story.
I am not a huge fan of poetry, but since I liked Love the Dog I decided to try out another novel written in poems. The plot of the novel was fairly good and engaging. However, although, I can appreciate the author’s craft I did not like reading the whole story in poetry this time. The poems were a bit hard to follow at times and made the story less enjoyable. I would not recommend this novel for elementary aged students as it is better suited for older readers. 
(Image retrieved from amazon.com)
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