Ryan, Pam Munoz. (2002). Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic Press, 272 pp.

Grade Range: 6-9

Genre: historical fiction

Summary and Critique

In Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan tells the story of Esperanza Ortega, only daughter of a wealthy Mexican landowner and his wife. The story begins in 1924 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on El Rancho de las Rosas, the ranch where Esperanza's father cultivates grapes and raises cattle. The day before Esperanza turns twelve, her beloved Papi is killed by bandits, and the girl's life of wealth, privilege, and security is shattered. Esperanza and her mother leave Aguascalientes with the people who were previously their servants and travel by train to California. There, they find work on a company farm, picking and packing produce. Esperanza and her extended family struggle through the hardships of the Depression- and Dust Bowl-era United States, and they even begin to flourish in the land of opportunity.

As the plight of immigrants and migrant workers continues to be of concern for many of us living in the Southwestern United States, this book speaks to adolescents from a variety of backgrounds. The occasional Spanish phrase increases the level of authenticity in the story, and Ryan is always careful to translate the phrases so that even someone who does not speak Spanish may easily comprehend. This book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in the Depression-era United States, the change in fortunes of immigrants from Mexico to the U.S., or the life of migrant workers in the past and present.

Themes/Topics

Families

Generations

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Friends and Enemies

Adventure

Awards

Pura Belpre Award

American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

IRA Notable Book for a Global Society

NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

Smithsonian Institution Notable Book for Children

Jane Addams Children's Book Award Winner

Willa Cather Award Winner

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year 2000

Author Information

Esperanza Rising is based on the life story of Pam Munoz Ryan's maternal grandmother, to whom she dedicated the b4teens_book. Ryan includes an Author's Note at the end of the book explaining the sources of the novel and also gives a very brief historical context for the Great Depression and the Mexican Repatriation carried out by the American government in the 1930s. Ryan grew up in the San Joaquin Valley of California, picking produce and hearing about the lives of her mother, descended from Mexican immigrants, and her father, an immigrant from Oklahoma.

For more information on Pam Munoz Ryan:

http://www.pammunozryan.com/ Ryan's home page.

http://www.kconnect.com/kc-pamryan.html Biographical information and book reviews.

Media Connections

Movies

The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers'Struggle (1997) This PBS documentary tells the story of the leader of the migrant farmworkers civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975) This documentary explores life during the Depression using Hollywood films and newsreel footage but no narration.

Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement (1996) A documentary covering the Mexican-American community's fight for equal rights in America.

Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) Focuses on the twelve year period that Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt occupied the White House.

My Family/Mi Familia (1995) – Explores the struggles and triumphs of three generations of a Mexican-American family, beginning with one man's emigration from Mexico to Los Angeles in the 1930s and concluding with his descendants in the 1990s.

Places in the Heart (1984) A widow, her children, a wandering African-American man, and a blind man must work together to prevent Edna Spalding from losing her farm during the Great Depression.

Online Resources

http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/osu/osuintwork.html Photos of migrant workers in 1930s Oregon.

http://www.hud.gov/groups/farmworkers.cfm HUD report and explanation of current day colonias along the border of the U.S. and Mexico.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/ Multimedia presentation of the conditions and effects of the Dust Bowl.

http://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.html Film of a dust storm.

http://runyon.lib.utexas.edu/conflict.html Information about the Mexican Revolution.

http://www.ufw.org/_page.php?menu=research&inc=history/07.html Biographical information on Cesar Chavez.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Migrant Worker Collection is an outstanding multimedia, online presentation of life in migrant work camps in California in 1940 and 1941. Contains audio recordings, photographs, narratives, publications, and ephemera from the National Digital Library.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fsaSubjects07.html Subject index of links to hundreds of black and white photographs of migrant camps in America (see"migrant camps" entries) from 1935-1945. From American Memory Collection, Library of Congress.

http://www.agclassroom.org/teachres/index.htm Teacher Resources from USDA's"Agriculture in the Classroom" program. Lesson plans promote awareness of the role of agriculture in economy and society.

http://www.ufw.org/ United Farm Workers home page includes current news and action items, as well as UFW history (with biographies of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and speeches by Cesar Chavez)

http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/ag.html Links to agriculture-related web sites, including agricultural organizations, market reports, and other highly detailed industry information on crops and animal husbandry.

http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol3/chicano/chicano.html Information on the documentary Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement.

Related Texts

Atkin, S. Beth. (1993). Voices from the Fields: Children of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories. Boston: Little Brown, 96 pp. Interviews, poems, and photos depicting lives of children of migrant farm workers.

Jimenez, Francisco. (1997). The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press. 134 pp. An autobiographical account of a child from a family of migrant farm workers.

Soto, Gary. (1995). Canto Familiar. San Diego: Harcourt Brace. Ill. Annika Nelson. 75 pp. Twenty-five beautifully illustrated poems celebrating a Mexican-American childhood.

Bunting, Eve. (1996). Going Home. New York: Harper Collins. Ill. David Diaz. 32 pp. Colorful story of a Mexican-American family of farm laborers who return to Mexico for the holidays.

Jimenez, Francisco. (1998). La Mariposa. Ill. Simon Silva. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 79pp. For younger audiences. Autobiographical story of a migrant Mexican-American boy's experience in first grade in the United States. 1999 Parents'Choice Recommendation.

Altman, Linda Jacobs. (1994). Migrant Farm Workers: The Temporary People. New York: Franklin Watts. 112pp. An examination of the economic history of using migrant workers in agriculture.

Steinbeck, John. (1939). The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking. 619 pp. A family moves from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.

Alarcon, Francisco X. (1997). Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates Risuenos y Otro Poemas de Primavera. San Francisco: Children's Press. 32 pp. Short poems presented in both English and Spanish.

Teaching Ideas

(1) Students browse migrant photos online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fsaSubjects07.html (American Memory Collection) or in Voices from the Fields. Students list details they see in a selected photo and interpret the details in a story, poem, or detailed description of the photo that answers the question,"How do people adjust to displacement?" Culminate project by projecting photos for whole class to see while students read aloud accompanying final drafts. Alternatively, students can analyze text of migrant songs and present this to class (songs with text also available from American Memory Collection). (source: Grace Voss)

(2) Students do quickwrites from any of the following prompts:

Have you ever lost something or someone you loved?"

Have you ever moved to a new place? How did you feel before

and immediately after the move? How did you feel six

months after the move?

Tell about a time you've wanted something and had to do something out of the ordinary to get it.

(3) Either individually or in small groups, students choose a topic of interest that relates in some way to the novel. These topics could range from the Dust Bowl to migrant workers in the U.S. to the Mexican Repatriation to Chicano/a writers in America. The research is presented to the class in a creative way.

(4) The students interview someone connected to immigration, migrant labor, labor causes, the Dust Bowl or Depression-era U.S., the Mexican Revolution, or any of the other topics in the novel and write a short story, letter, report, or children's book based on the interview and other research regarding that topic.

(Review written by Jessica M. Harris and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)