Esperanza Rising Book Review

 

















1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Munoz Ryan, P. (2000). ESPERANZA RISING. Scholastic Press.  ISBN: 9780439120425


2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Esperanza Rising is a novel about Esperanza and her affluent family in Mexico. A few years after the Mexican Revolution, her father is murdered and her uncles are controlling the estate. Esperanza and her mother flee to California with some of their former servants. Esperanza’s posh life is traded for migrant work when her mother falls ill and cannot work. Esperanze works tirelessly in her place to raise enough money to bring Abuelita to the states. 


 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The characters in Esperanza Rising are authentic and representative of Latinx in several ways. Esperanza and her family own a vineyard and are very wealthy. They want for nothing, but also take care of their servants. When Esperanza’s father is killed by Mexican Nationalists, her and her mother’s lives are turned upside-down.  Esperanza has the largest character arc in the book. She is very privileged in Mexico and does not know how to do anything. When they flee to California, she quickly realizes she must put forth effort to contribute and survive. 

The setting in this story is in the 1920s, beginning in Mexico and then in California. In Mexico, the family lives on a vineyard. In California, Esperanza and her mother share a bed in a one-bedroom house with their former servants in a migrant camp. A majority of the book is also set on the migrant farms where the men harvest crops and the women bundle and sort them for distribution. The author makes the reader visualize the richness of the estate they came from and the despair on the migrant farm and camp. 

There are several references to Latinx culture in this book. Spanish words and phrases are interwoven into the text. For example, Abuelita for her grandmother, Esperanza talks about a Quinceañera, and several foods are mentioned as well like tortillas, tamales, and frijoles. The secondary characters on the migrant farms and in camps speak about protesting their wages due to the discrimination of migrant workers. Families are committed to taking care of each other while also extending assistance to strangers. Family is central in this culture. The camp has a dance during the temperate climate, which includes dancing and instruments aligned with the Latinx traditions. Catholicism is also a strong influence in the book. There are prayers said and they make a shrine to Mary. 


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

  • ALA Notable Children's Books, 2001

  • Book Links, 01/01/09

  • Booklist, 03/15/01

  • Choice, 01/01/01

  • Horn Book Magazine, 01/01/01

  • Publishers Weekly starred, 10/09/00

  • Pura Belpre Author Award, 2002

  • School Library Journal starred, 10/01/00

  • Teacher Librarian, 04/01/03

  • Wilson's Children, 10/01/10

  • Wilson's Junior High School, 01/09/10

Full-Text Reviews
  • Book Report (January/February 2001)

  • Esperanza Ortega has spent her first twelve years as the pampered, only child of a wealthy landowner in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Her comfortable life vanishes when her father is murdered and her uncles force Esperanza and her mother to flee. With the help of their former servants, they secretly leave Mexico and make their way to California to work in the fields. Esperanza is unprepared for the hardships she must endure in the camp. Her mother patiently explains that they are fortunate to have a place to stay and a way to earn a meager living. Some workers try to organize the laborers to strike for better living conditions and pay, but the glut of workers coming to California in 1935 dooms their efforts. When her mother becomes ill, Esperanza discovers an inner strength that enables her to perform tasks she has never done before. This story of resilience in the face of harsh adversity shows how Mexican farm laborers were discriminated against in the 1930s. Readers will sympathize with Esperanza as she sheds her patrician upbringing and adapts to circumstances to survive. The author explains in a note that her grandmother inspired this story. Instead of numbers, she uses the name of the crop that is ready for harvesting to identify each chapter. Recommended. By Charlotte Decker, Librarian, Children's Learning Center, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio)




  • 5. CONNECTIONS

Related Books:


Castillo, L. (2020). NANA IN THE CITY. Findaway World, Llc. ISBN: 9781094259666

Buitrago, J. (2012). JIMMY THE GREATEST! Groundwood Books Ltd.  ISBN: 9781554982066

Activities:



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