Esperanza Rising

Esperanza Rising
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
Scholastic Press 2000

I read Esperanza Rising when I was in 8th grade and it is so amazing to see how much my mind has changed since then. I really never thought about this book deeply and while I did enjoy the novel I never really took it to heart. Esperanza was a young girl that lived on her families ranch in Mexico and she had everything she could ever want; servants, dolls, and a loving family. She loved her mother and father dearly, but was especially close to her father. Sadly, her father dies and this is when Esperanza's life completely changes around. She can no longer live the life she once lead because of her uncles greed and is forced to move to America. The servants from the ranch accompany them since they can give them a place to stay, but it is no where near the luxury Esperanza once knew. She learns to work in the labor camps along with the rest of the family and learns about the struggles of so many people. Her mother catches Valley Fever and is hospitalized for a majority of the book and during this time Esperanza must learn how to become a mature young woman and accept life for how it is. By the end of the novel Esperanza really gains the knowledge of making the best out of situations and out of life.

This book teaches such an important lesson and I wish so much that I would have noticed it when I was younger. Just like how Esperanza would crochet the mountains and valleys that is how life is, and nothing can change that. Everyone is going to have some sort of hardships in their life, and what makes them a better person is by how hard they climb back up the mountain. There are always going to be valleys in life and you can't simply jump over them, but you can work up the strength to climb back up. I feel like if I were to teach this novel to a group of students I would be sure to point this out to them especially if it was 8th graders. I remember thinking every little thing would be the end of the world, but in actuality I just had to not be afraid of restarting and fixing my mistakes. As an adult reading this book I really take to heart its message. I loved the authors note for the book because it was great to see that this was a real story and Esperanza really did become a strong woman that made the best out of her life. I respected her so much and I feel like using this book in a class would be great so students could see all the work their ancestors did to put them where they are know. I loved Esperanza's character because she was so rich of emotion and she felt so real. I could see her struggles and feel for her and she tried to get used to being a peasant girl. This is another book that really explores the rough patches of America's past that are hardly discussed. I actually did not know that 450,000 Mexican's were sent back to Mexico regardless of their citizenship. It is surprising to see how terrible America was during this certain time period. It was if Americans were scared of anything that was not the same as them. It is almost ironic that America calls it self the "Melting pot" because it seems like it was such a reluctant country to do so.  There are so many lessons to be taught out of this book, both life lessons and social studies and it is such a great learning tool.

I especially liked how throughout the book their was a lot of spanish text and I feel like this would be really great for context clues lessons. Sometimes words were not actually translated but you could tell what they were supposed to be by their sorrounding sentences and to have that skill is very important.  It can give a different perspective to life by showing a Mexican cultures views of America and by keeping it authentic by using their language. The last thing I really enjoyed was how the chapters were named after fruits. Classes could discuss how the fruits were used and how each fruit show a development in Esperanza. It was intresting to see how they counted out the year by the fruits instead of keeping any actual time. I absolutely loved this book even more than I did in 8th grade and I am so glad I read this again for all of the lessons it has taught me are something I will cherish forever.