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Esperanza Rising
Books: CookBooks: Japanese Cooking: Item 3
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Esperanza Risingby Pam Munoz Ryan
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful: To the challenge, January 5, 2004 Reviewer:E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - Winner of the 2001 Pura Belpre Award, "Esperanza Rising" tracts the rising/falling fortunes of young Esperanza Ortega. Forced to flee her father's grand estate in Mexico with her mother, the two make a perilous journey to America and become migrant farm workers in California. The book is a modified, "Little Princess", with a far more realistic and satisfying ending. Characters are presented here with great delicacy. Esperanza herself must sort out her own previous prejudices, while learning to live as, in her mind, a peasant. Children reading this will fully grasp everything that Esperanza has lost while truly appreciating the Mexican proverb Ryan has placed at the book's beginning: "The rich person is richer when he becomes poor, than the poor person when he becomes rich". Though I appreciate much of what the book says, I had my own personal problems with the presentation. The strikers are presented as alternately foolhardy and violent. They are lead by a girl, Marta, who is introduced by teasing Esperanza for being once so rich, now so low. These strikers are never joined by any of the main characters in this book, save Marta. In the Author's Note, Ryan explains that strikers fought for better living conditions and were sometimes shipped back to Mexico without any justification on the officials' part. In some cases the strikers lost. "In other instances, the strong voices of many people changed some of the pitiful conditions". Yet we do not see any evidence of this in the book. Instead, the reader is left with the very clear feeling that it is easier to be a scab like Esperanza's friend Miguel rather than risk everything for the good of others. I know it is not the author's intent to present this point of view, but this is unfortunately the lesson learned. After all, in a section where Esperanza fights with Miguel in a field about the hopelessness of their situation, Miguel argues that, "everything will work out". Esperanza reacts violently, saying that this way of thinking is not productive. The obvious conclusion being drawn is that Miguel should do something about his situation. Quoth Miguel, " `You are beginning to sound like the strikers, Esperanza', said Miguel coldly. `There is more than one way to get what you want in this country'." Maybe so, Miguel. But that particular way helped improve the lives of countless Latin American immigrants in America. It's just a pity Ryan fails to acknowledge this fact in her story.
From Publishers Weekly
"With a hint of magical realism, this robust novel set in 1930 captures a Mexican girl's fall from riches and her immigration to California," said PW in our Best books citation. Ages 8-12. (June)
Copyright 2002 Reed business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Ryan uses the experiences of her own Mexican grandmother as the basis for this compelling story of immigration and assimilation, not only to a new country but also into a different social class. Esperanza's expectation that her 13th birthday will be celebrated with all the material pleasures and folk elements of her previous years is shattered when her father is murdered by bandits. His powerful stepbrothers then hold her mother as a social and economic hostage, wanting to force her remarriage to one of them, and go so far as to burn down the family home. Esperanza's mother then decides to join the cook and gardener and their son as they move to the United States and work in California's agricultural industry. They embark on a new way of life, away from the uncles, and Esperanza unwillingly enters a world where she is no longer a princess but a worker. Set against the multiethnic, labor-organizing era of the Depression, the story of Esperanza remaking herself is satisfyingly complete, including dire illness and a difficult romance. Except for the evil uncles, all of the characters are rounded, their motives genuine, with class issues honestly portrayed. Easy to booktalk, useful in classroom discussions, and accessible as pleasure reading, this well-written novel belongs in all collections.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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