Evamar
Margarita Engle
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published September 8, 2026
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About Evamar
From award-winning author Margarita Engle comes a “spellbinding”(Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse about first love, hidden cultures, and ancestral connections that follows a teen’s journey to uncover her late grandmother’s roots in Cuba.
Just before she was transformed
into an invisible spirit
my grandmother whispered her last wishes
into my ear:
Sprinkle my ashes in a patch of girasoles,
wait patiently, harvest the seeds,
fly to la isla, find el jardín,
plant las semillas.
Then and only then—
read my diaries.
Evamar has arrived in Cuba with her abuela’s ashes and her mother’s warnings: Don’t talk politics, boil the tap water before you drink, y por favor absolutamente, don’t fall in love. But then she meets Río, a captivating drummer whose music and presence she can’t ignore.
Río bears his own scars, separated from his family in the United States. As their bond deepens, Evamar discovers an ancestral treasure that could change her future—and the lives of millions of Caribbeans.
My Review
One thing I loved about this book is how it blended languages in the lines of the poems. English, Spanish, and Taíno words and phrases appear side by side. Sometimes the text reveals what the phrases or words in other languages are. Other times, the reader must use context clues or look up the meanings. I read this book as an ebook, so it was easy to look up different words and translate them.
The book made me feel like I know more Spanish than I realize, yet there’s still so much I don’t know. I didn’t have trouble keeping up with what the author was saying, and I felt like the way she used words across multiple languages made perfect sense and added to the story’s atmosphere. It also kept Evamar’s identity as American, Cuban, and Taíno very present in my mind as I read.
The story does contain a romance, and it’s a little bit of an instalove tale. I wasn’t crazy about that, but it didn’t bother me. I think I found other parts of the story much more compelling than the romance. I don’t know if the goal was to use a romance to pull together both Evamar and Río’s perspectives and better contrast their lives and experiences. If so, it does accomplish that goal.
Near the end of the story, Evamar realizes she must do something that will connect her to a part of her history and family she didn’t previously connect to. I wish that more of that quest appeared on the page.
Like great novels in verse, Evamar tells a lot of story in spare, lyrical writing. I loved the inclusion of the music and drums and the rich descriptions of Evamar’s experience in Cuba. This is definitely worth a read!
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.
Spiritual Content
References to some cultural and spiritual beliefs about a drum that only men can play or listen to.
Violent Content
References to war and forced military service at 16. Russian military recruiters try to get Río and his cousin to join them. Desperate people break into a garden, planning to steal its fruit. The story explores the effects of terrible poverty and a high-control authoritarian government on its people.
Drug Content
None.
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