Web book Report

Esperanza Rising

Pam Munoz

Introduction	Summary	Book Review
Setting & Characters	Erin - 22 November 12, 2004 Language Arts	Author Info

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Introduction

A thirteen- year old girl learns valuable life lessons as she and her mother lose everything and are forced to escape Mexico for California. Esperanza is not prepared for the hardships of peasant life as a farm worker during the Great Depression. She has to adjust to work camp living and learn how to take care of herself when her mother becomes very ill. With the support of many friends, Esperanza is determined to help her mother and bring her grandmother, Abuelita, from Mexico to live with them. She realizes that family and friends are most important.

Summary

Esperanza Ortega was a young girl with everything. Her family owned El Rancho de las Rosas with a beautiful home, vineyards, and servants. Her life suddenly changes when bandits mysteriously kill her Papa. Then, the family home is burned because her mother turned down a marriage proposal from her late husbands brother. With the help of a servant family and friends, Esperanza and her mother secretly escape to California. They had to have Abuelita grandmother behind with her sisters.

Esperanza faces many new challenges. In California she is just a peasant wearing old discarded clothes working in the farm camp and living in a shack that is no better than “horse stable.” Her mother becomes very ill. Many workers want to strike, and more people are moving into the camps everyday. Esperanza finds the strength to find work. She learns to cut potato eyes and pack asparagus. She also develops compassion, understanding, and acceptance. When Miguel, a family friend, returns from a secret trip to Mexico with Abuelita, Esperanza finally realizes that all she needs are her family and friends to be happy.

Settings

Mexico- Mid to late 1920’s. There were still large ranches. However, bandits roamed free stealing from the wealthy landowners and claiming that they gave back to the poor.

California- Great Depression of the 1930’s. Many came to California to find any type of work. There were farm work camps and tent cities. Mexican farm workers wanted to for better pay and housing. Many were sent back to Mexico.

Characters

Esperanza- a young, thirteen year-old girl loses everything. She goes from riches to rags. She tries to find happiness adjusting to her new life in a California work camp. She goes through many changes and learns that happiness is being with the people you care most about.

Ramona- the mother of Esperanza. She had the strength to leave her home in Mexico and start a new life in California. She also understood that everyone was equal. Ramona had lost so much. However, she remained emotionally very strong to protect Esperanza. When she became ill with “Valley Fever,” Esperanza had to take over the workload.

Abuelita - Grandmother of Esperanza. She had to stay behind in Mexico because she was not healthy to travel. She had a tremendous influence and was a big support for Esperanza and Ramona. Esperanza worked many hours to save money to bring Abuelita to California to help her mother get well. They needed her emotional support.

Miguel- a very supportive friend to Esperanza. He helped her through many different changes. He secretly brought Abuelita from Mexico to California. Esperanza depended on him for help.

Author Info Pam Munoz Ryan was born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California. She grew up picking plums, peaches, and almonds from backyard trees. Her parents worked in the company farm camps when they were young. Her grandmother’s life story is very similar to the story of Esperanza Rising. There are many historical facts in the story that are true, such as, the company farm camps, the strikes in the California agricultural fields, and Mexican Repatriation. Pam Munoz Ryan received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at San Diego State.

Book Review

Esperanza Rising is a wonderful story that keeps the reader involved in the book. The descriptions by the author, Pam Munoz Ryan, bring the people and places alive. It was easy to visualize the company farm, where Esperanza and her mother work, with its tiny box like houses that looked like horse stalls.

Esperanza’s early life on a ranch in Mexico was a fairytale. She had everything. However, her life changed quickly after her father’s death, and she and her mother were forced to leave Mexico. The story captures the many changes and hardships that Esperanza goes through during her younger years after immigrating to California during the Great Depression.

It is a very exciting story with many sad and happy moments