I truly enjoyed this reading this book! Esperanza Rising is set in the early 1930s, twenty years after the Mexican Revolution and during the Great Depression. It tells the story of a young Mexican girl's courage and resourcefulness when at the tender age of thirteen she finds herself living in a strange new land. Esperanza, whose name means "hope" in Spanish, is born to a world of pampered comfort and privilege on a large and successful ranch. But when her father is killed by bandits, she and her mother are eventually forced to flee their life of privilege and travel to the United States where they survive as best they can as migrant farm laborers. Esperanza is faced with poverty, depending on others for food and the clothes on her back, yet Esperanza still looks at the people around her through the eyes of the wealthy. Those people are poor and dirty and uneducated, not her. Gradually, through her mother’s example, she begins to see the shame she brings to her mother through her actions. When her mother falls ill with Valley Fever, Esperanza learns the value of family and friends. She finds ways to care for her mother and cope with the difficulties of making a new home, rising again like the mythical phoenix in the stories her grandmother told her when she was a child.
This story reminded me much of my own life at a young age growing up in a migrant family. I could relate to the story, especially when she describes working in the fields. I like the way she incorporates fruits to tell each chapter. Growing up I never read books like these, now I am finding many stories like this one that I could relate to and that could have been great if I was introduced to them at a younger age. This book goes on my favorite books list for sure!
