Module 5: Esperanza Rising

Module 5: Esperanza Rising

Summary: Esperanza lives a pampered life in Mexico where her father is a wealthy landowner. She is the only child and receives the love and attention of her family and their servants. Tragedy strikes when bandits capture and kill her father. Then her terrible uncle burns down the house because her mother refuses to surrender to him. Therefore, Esperanza, her mother, and some servants travel to America where they are migrant workers making close to no money and treated like nothing. When Esperanza’s mother gets sick, Esperanza takes charge and works to save money to bring her grandmother to America to help aid her mother’s failing spirits. Despite the hardships and heartbreaks Esperanza faces, she realizes that as long as she has family and friends that love her she can work to make her dreams come true.

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

Impression: This is a great coming-of-age story. Esperanza begins the story as a nice but spoiled girl. Her father’s tragic death is heart wrenching, but her uncle’s betrayal is even worse. This huge turn of events captivates the reader’s attention immediately, and the momentum of the book continues with Esperanza’s American obstacles. Against the backdrop of prejudice and racism, Esperanza’s story becomes that of many Mexican Americans in the 1930s. The deportation and poor treatment of the migrant workers is a part of history that not many of our Hispanic students are even aware of. Therefore, the book meets the need of historical education and entertainment simultaneously. The story is exciting and inspiring, but the added truth of injustice is invaluable to a generation of students that think they deserve everything for doing nothing. This story shows that people work hard for their happiness, and one should simply be happy to have found a happiness in a world that can be full of hate and despair.

Review: Esperanza Rising (2000), by Pam Muñoz Ryan, is one of the first Latina-authored children's books to use the migrant experience as an integral part of the story. Set in the same time period as Pocho, this award-winning novel is based on the life of the author's grandmother, Esperanza Ortega, who was forced by circumstances to leave her privileged life in Mexico and work in the fields of California. Readers experience with Esperanza the cruel realities of rough work in miserable conditions, and empathize with those seeking to improve conditions and also with those workers so desperate for work that they dared not support labor-organizing efforts for fear of losing the poor jobs they had. In the author's notes at the end of Esperanza Rising, Ryan discusses the Deportation Act of 1929, which resulted in at least 450,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans being "repatriated" to Mexico.

York, S. (2002). The migrant experience in the works of Mexican American writers [Review of  the book Esperanza Rising]. Alan Review. Retrieved from             http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v30n1/york.html

Suggestion: Esperanza Rising would be a great book for young girls and Hispanic students to read. A book talk about historical fiction should definitely include this book especially if the library is in Texas. Hispanic students need this history and a character that they can relate to culturally. 

Module 4: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Module 4: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Summary: Kit Tyler grew up in Barbados with her grandfather. Free to do as she pleased and immersed in the island’s culture, Kit was shocked by her predicament when her grandfather passed away and she had to live with her Puritan uncle. Although Kit tries hard to fit in and makes friends with Nat and Prudence, she creates tension in the town when she befriends the town witch. The elderly woman is a Quaker who believes in peace and harmony, but the town’s Puritan believes has made her an outcast. Kit must find the courage to stand up for her friends and herself when the town claims she is also a witch. Proving her innocence could mean life or death, so Kit and her friends have to find a way to sway the hostile Puritan townspeople.

Citation: Speare, E.G. (1958). The witch of Blackbird Pond. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc.

Impression: This book spreads the message of acceptance. Even with the progress society has made, many people still need books like this that show how having narrow ideas can not only hurt people but also keep society from growing. As a character, Kit is interesting to watch because she tries so hard to fit in to a place that she obviously does not like. Her good nature shines through in the worst times, and she is an example of persistence that many young readers can relate to.

Review: When young Kit Tyler comes from her Barbados home to colonial Connecticut, she is unprepared for the austerity of her uncle's home. Kit, a staunch royalist, accustomed to the easy life of a slave-manned plantation, and her fanatic Puritan uncle are instinctive antagonists. But despite her tastes for finery, Kit is possessed with courage and conviction. Her spontaneous friendship with Hannah, an old woman whose Quaker affiliations have branded her as a witch, and her secret teaching of a young child who suddenly is stricken with a strange malady, seriously threaten her safety. For the townspeople are mistrustful of this strange girl who already has startled them with her "magic" ability to stay afloat in water. Kit's vindication, her gradual integration into the community and the positive effect she has on those about her, combine here in a well documented novel to rival the author's first work, Calico Captive, which received wide acclaim as a work of "superior historical fiction".

(2012). The Witch of Blackbird Pond [Review of the book The Witch of Blackbird Pond].           Kirkus Review. Retrieved from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-  george-speare/the-witch-of-blackbird-pond/

Suggestion: Librarians could use this book as a focus for anti-bullying week. She could summarize the book and put the question forth to students: is it right to force someone out of a community because of their beliefs? Then the librarian could offer other books about bullying or acceptance for children to read. 

Module 3: Owl Moon

Module 3: Owl Moon

Summary: A father and daughter go out in a snow covered forest in the middle of the night to go owling. The daughter narrates the story and exhibits great patience and self-discipline as she waits for an owl to appear.

Citation: Yolen, J. (1987). Owl Moon. New York: Philomel Books.

Impression: The book has a soothing quality with its dark illustrations of a moonlit forest. The illustrations are fantastically detailed, and the forest landscape on the page leaps from the page. Despite the darkness of the forest, there is no fear because of the soothing repetitive words and the father’s strong presence. The repetitive wording and the themes of patience add to the mood of tranquility that the illustrations and the plot creates. The little girl’s self-discipline is a great role model for children to realize that good things come to those who wait.

Review: A rare reappearance of a fine illustrator (Rascal, Julie of the Wolves), whose watercolors here follow a father and small child as they seek an owl beneath a winter moon. In Yolen's spare, graceful text, the child recounts their trudge through snow, long past bedtime, with Pa repeating an owl call until he is rewarded with a reply plus the sighting of the owl, for a minute or "maybe even a hundred minutes." Schoenherr catches the deep, misty blues and soft browns of night--contrasting them to the snow's stark white so sharply that the bite of the cold is palpable--and hides a wild creature in tree or wall in almost every vista of the farmland landscape. Yolen hints at a philosophical overtone ("When you go owling you don't need words or warm or anything but hope. . .the kind of hope that flies on silent wings. . ."), but the shared experience of the mysterious, natural night-world seems the more important message of this lovely, quiet book.

(2012). Owl Moon [Review of the book Owl Moon]. Retrieved       from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jane-yolen/owl-moon/ 

Suggestion: Librarians could use this for a book talk about Caldecott winners and introduce other award winning books. 

Module 2: Shiloh

Module 2: Shiloh

Summary: Marty Preston loves to spend his time wandering the hills of his home in West Virginia. Although his family is far from rich, they make do with their little house in the hills. When Marty takes a walk he runs into a beagle. The beagle is friendly, but subdued and follows Marty home. Marty finds out that the beagle belongs to Judd Travers, a rough, hostile hunter that treats his dogs with no kindness. Marty knows that his family can hardly afford a dog, and Judd will not sell his dog for a price they can afford. Marty has to find a way to save the dog he has come to love; a dog he named Shiloh.

Citation: Naylor, P.R. (1991). Shiloh. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc.

Impression: Shiloh is a well-loved classic for many reasons. Stories about animals touch many people’s hearts because most people have pets that they love or have loved. We can understand why Marty wants to save Shiloh, and we begin to love Shiloh as we read. Marty is a great character because he is true to his age yet he shows the maturity that comes with growing up in an impoverished home. He knows that his family can barely afford to care for a dog, so he works to save money. Marty’s mistakes are those of a boy desperately trying to hold on to someone he loves, and readers love him more for those mistakes. I think that this book will continue to be a classic because there is something about a boy and his dog that is universally understood and loved. When a child shows loyalty, courage, and love for an animal all readers can understand the emotions that Marty experiences.

Review: A gripping account of a mountain boy's love for a dog he's hiding from its owner. Marty, 11, tells how Shiloh, the runaway, first caught his heart; still, his bone-poor West Virginia family has a strong sense of honor, and the dog is returned to its owner. After it runs back to Marty, he hides it in the woods. As Marty's structure of lies to his parents compounds, the villainous owner circles closer. By the time Judd finds Shiloh, the whole family is compromised and the dog has been injured. Marty does get the dog, partly by another lie of omission: he blackmails Judd when he finds him poaching and makes a deal to work for Judd to pay for the dog, but tells his parents another version. Fine lines are explored here: How necessary is it to adhere to the strict truth? "What kind of law is it...that lets a man mistreat his dog?" Has the dog been "saved" if this leads to its injury? Marty concludes that "nothing is as simple as you guess--not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog." Meanwhile, young readers will rejoice that Shiloh and Marty end up together. (Fiction. 8-12)

(2010). Shiloh [Review of the book Shiloh]. Kirkus Review. Retrieved from: https://www.            kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/phyllis-reynolds-naylor/shiloh-2/

Suggestion: Librarians can use this book for a book talk and interest animal lovers in reading. The librarian could pair this book with another animal book or nonfiction animal books to demonstrate the variety of engaging books there are that focus on animals.