Esperanza Rising

APA Bibliography: Ryan, P. M. (2000). Esperanza Rising. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Readability Lexile: 750L

Book Information: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/esperanza-rising-by-pam-munoz-ryan/

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Engages Middle School, Diverse Protagonist, Bilingual

Author Information: http://www.pammunozryan.com

Summary: This amazing book is about a girl named Esperanza, who lives in Mexico. Her family is wealthy and she has the perfect life. She has everything she could wish for. But things take a turn when bandits capture and kill Esperanza's father. Then her father's step-brothers take over the property and try to convince her mother to sell the house. When Mama says no, Papa's step-brothers burn the house down. Mama makes decision to leave for California. Except for Abuelita, everyone goes to California, including the household servants. In California, Esperanza has to learn to work in the fields and take care of her family. The working conditions are definitely not the greatest, but in order to bring Abuelita to California, Esperanza knows she has to work really hard. When Miguel bring Abuelita, everyone was shocked because they thought he had run away with Esperanza's hard earned money. Esperanza gets her hopes up when she sees Abuelita and dreams of learning English and starting a life. 

Target Audience: The target audience for this book is for students in grades 6-8. I think this book is perfect for older children because they are about the same age as Esperanza is in the book and they can relate to her on some level. The concepts that are presented in this book is definitely for mature students because they have to understand what Esperanza and her family went through. It is really an inspirational book. 

Evaluation: This book was absolutely amazing and would recommend 10/10. It really deserves the awards the book has gotten. Readers can not only just read the words, but they can imagine what it must be like. They can visualize everything because the author is very detailed. The book explains to the readers what it is like immigrants in the United States. It talks about the discrimination and harsh living conditions they have to face. 

Reader Response Activity: An activity that you can do with your students is to have them write a letter to Esperanza. Have your students talk about what life for immigrants is like now. Have them go into details of news about immigrants across the nation and how the discrimination is. It is a very open ended letter, and they can talk about what life is like now compared to what it was like back in 1930s.