Title: Silver People: Voices from Panama Canal

Author: Margarita Engle

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers 2014

Genre: MG Historical Fiction (Free verse)

Pages: 272

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spring TBR

One hundred years ago, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower. It was a miracle, this path of water where a mountain had stood—and creating a miracle is no easy thing. Thousands lost their lives, and those who survived worked under the harshest conditions for only a few silver coins a day.
     From the young "silver people" whose back-breaking labor built the Canal to the denizens of the endangered rainforest itself, this is the story of one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, as only Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle could tell it.

Another novel that I sped through. I picked this one up because it was on the optional readers list for Arthur’s homeschool curriculum. While I don’t think he will be reading this anytime soon, I devoured it. We get a free verse style retelling of the building of the Panama Canal told from multiple perspectives (including a variety of forest animals). We get to see the terrible trauma of the project and learn about the divides between the workers. We see their struggles as every day the project continues to stall. I really enjoyed this learning about a time period without dry text. I will keep this in mind for later in our homeschool journey.

Next up on the TBR pile: