Esperanza Rising
Pam Muñoz Ryan (2000)
“A wealthy Mexican girl loses everything overnight and must learn to work the fields alongside the people she never noticed — before hope can mean anything.”
At a Glance
In 1930, thirteen-year-old Esperanza Ortega lives in luxury on her family's ranch in Aguascalientes, Mexico. When her father is murdered and her uncles seize the estate, Esperanza and her mother flee to California with their servants, forced to labor in the agricultural camps of the San Joaquin Valley during the Great Depression. Esperanza must shed her class identity and learn to endure poverty, prejudice, and the threat of deportation — until resilience and love carry her through.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
One of the first widely taught novels for young readers to center the perspective of a Mexican immigrant laborer without sentimentality or simplification. Won the Pura Belpré Award (American Library Association) and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Has been taught in middle schools across the United States for over twenty years and introduced generations of students to the history of Mexican American labor.
Diction Profile
Accessible and warm, with sensory precision — appropriate for middle grade but dense enough for high school analysis
Moderate