Tula ["Books are door shaped"]

“Tula [Books are door-shaped]” is the first poem by Margarita Engle in her book The Lightning Dreamer, originally published in 2013 by Harcourt Children’s Books. It is a Pura Belpré Honor Book featured on a variety of noteworthy lists, such as the 2014 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, School Library Journal’s Top Ten Latino-themed Books for 2013, Teaching for Change 2013 Favorite, Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Multicultural Book of 2013, and Barnes & Noble Teen Blog's 50 Crucial Feminist YA Books list.

“Tula [Books are door-shaped]” is a free-verse poem written in the persona of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, whose nickname was Tula. The poem is set during her childhood, around 1827. Avellaneda is known for her work as a Cuban abolitionist playwright, novelist, and poet. Engle’s poem “Tula” examines the power of books and imagination, and explores constructs of femininity.

Poet Biography

Cuban American writer Margarita Engle was born in Pasadena, California in 1951. Her parents met while her Ukrainian-Jewish father was visiting Cuba, having fled the soviet pogroms in the wake of the consolidation of the USSR. Her parents fell in love during an artist-tour of the island, and, years later, her mother immigrated to America to marry him. While growing up in Los Angeles (her father’s hometown), Engle spent many childhood summers in Cuba with her mother’s family. These visits ended due to the US Embargos of Cuba, starting in 1960 with restrictions not only on the sale of arms, but also on practically all commercial activity—including travel through Cuba’s airports.

Engle completed her bachelor’s degree at California State Polytechnic University in 1974 and earned her master’s of science degree at Iowa State University in 1977, studying agronomy and botany. She married Curtis Engle, an agricultural entomologist (one who studies insects). Engle nearly completed her Ph.D. in biology at the University of California, Riverside. There, she attended a lecture by Tomás Rivera—Chicano author and Chancellor of UC Riverside—which drove her to pursue writing and end her university career in 1983.

After leaving her position as associate professor of agronomy at California State Polytechnic University, Engle remained in California and wrote many books for children, young adults, and adults. Her first major publication was Singing to Cuba, which came out in 1993. Since then, Engle has authored over 30 books, served as the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate (2017-19), was a CINTAS fellow, and won a number of awards, including the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, the Pura Belpre Honor, the Newbery Honor, and a San Diego Book Award.

Poem Text

Engle, Margarita. “Tula [Books are door-shaped].” 2013. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

“Tula” is a free-verse poem written in the persona of historical figure Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, also known as Tula. The first stanza defines books as gateways that allow the speaker, Tula, to travel to other places and times. Via this mechanism of mental travel, books help her to combat loneliness.

The second stanza sets up the conflict between the speaker and her mother. Tula’s mother thinks avid readers are not feminine nor attractive. She keeps Tula from reading her father’s books by locking them books in a cabinet. Tula can only look at the covers through glass; she can rarely even touch books.

In the third stanza, the speaker describes the genres of books she is not allowed to read. All genres are prohibited because Tula is a girl. Her mother believes thinking is not something girls should do; however, Tula’s brain remains active, continuing to produce thoughts.

The fourth stanza describes some of Tula’s thoughts. She imagines alternate locations and eras, supernatural creatures, and historical warriors. She replaces feelings of confusion and loneliness with her fantasies.

In the fifth stanza, Tula secretly visualizes a book. It transports her, like a door within her mind, to a fantasy realm of villains and heroes.

The sixth and final stanza develops the characterization of Tula’s imaginary heroes. While some heroes are boys and men, other heroes are girls who have enough strength and cleverness to defeat monsters and save children.