Module 10--Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Source: http://pmtweenreviews.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/esperanza-rising.jpg

Summary:
Esperanza was wealthy Mexican girl living comfortably and happy on her father's ranch, El Rancho de los Rosas, in Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Every year on Esperanza's birthday, they have a big party and Esperanza's father gives her a special doll.  The night before she turns thirteen her father is killed by bandits.  The home where she, her mother, and her grandmother live is burned to the ground when her mother refuses to sell the house and to marry her Tio Luis.  Esperanza and her mother escape to the United States with one of their servant families.  Esperanza struggles to understand how she is now a poor immigrant in a work camp.  Her mother works in the fields harvesting crops while she cares for babies at home.  One day, during a dust storm, her mother breathes in dust spores that cause a debilitating illness.  Her mother can no longer work and eventually needs hospital care.  Esperanza begins to work in the field to pay for her mother's care and to save money for her grandmother to join them in America.  Meanwhile, Miguel, the son of Esperanza's former servants, tries to find work as a train mechanic.  He is turned down repeatedly.  Esperanza still believes she is above him.  After Esperanza tells Miguel he will never be more than a peasant, he takes off.  When Esperanza's mother gets out of the hospital, Esperanza discovers Miguel stole the money she was saving to bring her grandmother to join them.  She is heartbroken and angry.  Then, Miguel arrives by bus with her grandmother.   This is the second effort he was made to earn her favor because he and his father together rescued roots from Esperanza's ranch in Mexico so she could grow her father's roses in America.  After a year of struggle, Esperanza finds that she has hope for the future even though she must start over and it will be difficult. 

APA Reference:
Ryan, P.M. (2000). Esperanza rising.  New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. 

My Impressions:
This has been one of my favorite books of the semester.  I was fascinated by the history of the ranch land arguments in Mexico because my boyfriend's wealthy Spanish descendents were forced from the Mexican ranch lands to El Paso, Texas, during the same time period.  I have enjoyed quite a few books from the Great Depression era but never one that shares the perspective of Mexican workers.  Beyond the history, I appreciated the seamless flow between Spanish words and the English text.  The use of some Spanish vocabulary would be interesting for any child who did not know Spanish as well as validating for those children that speak Spanish.  The characters were dynamic, conflicted, and demonstrated change throughout the book.  This made the story captivating and memorable.  While intended for a middle school audience, this book would still make an excellent read-aloud to younger students. 

Professional Reviews:
At times Esperanza Rising, although it takes place in Depression-era Mexico and the United States instead of Victorian England, seems a dead ringer for Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. Both are dramatic riches-to-rags stories about girls forced to trade fancy dolls and dresses for hard work and ill-fitting hand-me-downs after their beloved fathers die. Thirteen-year-old Esperanza even possesses a touch of Sara Crewe's romantic spirit. The daughter of an affluent Mexican rancher, she had been taught by her father to believe that the "land is alive," that she could lie down beneath the arbors in her family's vineyards, press her ear to the ground, and hear a heart beat. Yet can this still hold true for Esperanza when she no longer reigns as queen of the harvest but labors in the fields of a foreign country, picking grapes on someone else's land for pennies an hour? The transition does net come easily for her, and thus her story ultimately diverges from The Little Princess's fairytale script to become a poignant look at the realities of immigration. Political as well as personal history inform the sometimes florid narrative (loosely based, we are told in an afterword, on the experiences of the author's grandmother). Esperanza's struggles begin amidst class unrest in post-revolutionary Mexico and intersect with labor strikes in the United States, which serve to illustrate the time period's prevailing hostility toward people of Mexican descent. In one of the more glaring injustices she witnesses, striking workers, who were born American citizens and have never set foot on Mexican soil, are loaded onto buses for deportation. Through it all, Esperanza is transformed from a sheltered aristocrat into someone who can take care of herself and others. Although her material wealth is not restored in the end, the way it is for Sara Crewe, she is rich in family, friends, and esperanza — the Spanish word for hope.

Happermann, C. M. (2001). [Review of the book Esperanza rising, by P.M. Ryan]. Horn Book Magazine, 77(1), 96.  Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com

Gr 6-9 --Ryan uses the experiences of her own Mexican grandmother as the basis for this compelling story of immigration and assimilation, not only to a new country but also into a different social class. Esperanza's expectation that her 13th birthday will be celebrated with all the material pleasures and folk elements of her previous years is shattered when her father is murdered by bandits. His powerful stepbrothers then hold her mother as a social and economic hostage, wanting to force her remarriage to one of them, and go so far as to burn down the family home. Esperanza's mother then decides to join the cook and gardener and their son as they move to the United States and work in California's agricultural industry. They embark on a new way of life, away from the uncles, and Esperanza unwillingly enters a world where she is no longer a princess but a worker. Set against the multiethnic, labor-organizing era of the Depression, the story of Esperanza remaking herself is satisfyingly complete, including dire illness and a difficult romance. Except for the evil uncles, all of the characters are rounded, their motives genuine, with class issues honestly portrayed. Easy to booktalk, useful in classroom discussions, and accessible as pleasure reading, this well-written novel belongs in all collections.

Goldsmith, F. (2000). [Review of the book Esperanza rising, by P.M. Ryan] School Library Journal, 46(10), 171.  Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Library Uses:
Book Cover Designers:   Students redesign a book cover for Esperanza Rising that makes a book-to-self connection.  On the front of the book cover they include important elements of the story using drawings or collage.  On the back part of the book cover, they use drawings or collage to portray a time in their life that they had to overcome an obstacle.