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.