Esperanza Rising

Title: Esperanza Rising

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Required Text

Reading Esperanza Rising was like reading a fairytale gone wrong to me. The story begins by detailing the luxurious life of a young girl, Esperanza, who lives on a ranch in Mexico with her wealthy family. Esperanza’s life consists of servants who wait on her hand and foot, fancy dresses and parties, and all of the toys a young girl could ever dream of. However, after a series of unexpected tragedies, all of this is gone. Suddenly, Esperanza and her family must make a drastic change in their life and move to the United States to find work. While in America, Esperanza and her family become farm workers and must live in a Mexican camp with the rest of their race. Not only is this a culture shock for Esperanza, but she isn’t ready for the enormous hardships she now faces. With tragedy waiting around every corner, will Esperanza be able to keep her family together? I enjoyed the uncertainty and suspense this book offered the reader. 

I personally liked this book very much particularly because of the changes the main character, Esperanza, goes through. The reader experiences Esperanza mature very quickly in only a matter of months. To me, it serves as a reminder of what tragedies can do to us and how they can put things in perspective and change us for the better despite the sorrow they bring. I also enjoyed this book because it gave me insight to a portion of what was going on during The Great Depression that I knew little to none about. Reading about Esperanza’s family and the hardships they and other Mexican-Americans endured during this time was truly heartbreaking for me to read on top of the personal dilemmas they face. I would use this book particularly with middle school students because it gives some good insight to what was going on during The Great Depression. It would definitely help illuminate some of the concepts learned in social studies and give the students a better understanding of Mexican-American culture at this time in history.