Esperanza Rising: Check!

I recently read this book in both English and Spanish. Here are my thoughts:

What's it about?

It's 1924. A wealthy, young girl lives in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on her father's vineyard. When her father unexpectedly dies, however, she and her mom are left without property, without a home, and - for Esperanza, worst of all, - without servants!

Esperanza and her mother travel, together with those who once were their servants, to the United States in hopes of making a better life by working in a migrant camp in California. Now in a foreign land and stripped of her wealth and power, Esperanza must learn to work for the first time in her life, and to associate with those who she once considered beneath her.

Through all of this, Esperanza learns to hope.

Aguantate tantito, y la fruta caera en tu mano.
Wait just a little while, and the fruit will fall into your hand.

What did I think of it?

This book is particularly strong in symbolism! For this reason, the book could be used even at a high school level, which is when students begin examining symbols.

I also like that this book’s historical accuracy. The story is based on the true story of the author's grandmother and so very accurately portrays the people of that time and the time they lived in. The author takes care to showcase not just Mexican culture, but, within that, the culture pertaining to those from Aguascalientes – their superstitions, food, traditions, and way of life. 

Author Pam Munoz Ryan

And I loved the dynamic character of Esperanza. She starts out selfish and is chastised for her selfishness, but then gains both generosity and wisdom as the story progresses. In this way, the reader can also learn from Esperanza’s mistakes and connect to her as a flawed individual.

The downside: the cover is pretty girly-looking. If I will be reading this to an entire class, I want both the boys and girls to enjoy it.

I would also include more thorough explanations of the historical situation the characters were in. In her afterward, the author mentions the Mexican Repatriation, but, as a reader that had never heard of this event before, I left the book confused about it. 

And when I closed the book cover, I was left with unanswered questions. Did Esperanza and Miguel’s families truly find a better life in the United States? Did Esperanza ever see her best friend again? Did she visit her former home in Aguascalientes? I would recommend a sequel to the book so that these unanswered questions could be answered.

Suggestions for Classroom Use

Approximate grade level: 4th through 9th
Themes: Starting over, hope, and new life
Suggested content area: Social studies: immigration
Academic activities:

• Tweeting and acting: Students will tweet their favorite scene from the book (write it in 110 characters or less). Then, students will walk around the room silently and group with those who described the same favorite scene. Students will then be allotted 10 minutes to prepare a reenactment of their favorite scene in their groups, after which the teacher narrates a re-telling of the story, inserting student reenactments at appropriate spots.

• Compare/contrast Mexican immigrants then and now: Students will work in groups with large chart paper. They will draw a Venn diagram on the chart paper and brainstorm similarities and differences between Mexican immigrants then and now. Ideally, at least one child from a family of Mexican immigrants will be in each group. Groups will share their findings with the class. Each group gets a point for every unique idea on their Venn diagram and adds new information to their diagram.

• Family investigation: Students will be assigned to interview one or several family members to understand their family’s immigration history. They will discover their family’s purpose for immigrating to the United States. Students will then share their findings with the class.